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Date Harvest: 'There's Nothing Good to Say About the Crop'

Posted on: Monday, 10 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

By Kimberly Pierceall, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.

Oct. 11--The recent past for the Coachella Valley's date industry hasn't exactly been fruitful.

Elderly date palms have been sold off for landscaping.

Farmers have uprooted their crops and moved farther east to make way for development.

This year, rare humid conditions in the desert have foiled the crop, which should yield less than 25 million pounds of dates. It's the third consecutive year of below-average harvests.

"There's nothing good to say about the crop," said Mark Goulet, general manager of Indio's Shields Date Gardens, owned by Thermal-based Jewel Date Company.

The quality of last year's harvest exceeded expectations, said Goulet.

"Everyone's dates last year were an abnormally large size," he said. Although last year's weather was ideal and the harvest produced big fruit, the yield has disappointed, said Goulet.

The harvesting season usually lasts between August and December, said Goulet. Since 2003, the crops have yielded less than the average 30 million pounds annually.

Date harvesting can be finicky. Too hot, and the sugary fruits won't ripen. Too wet, and the dates won't firm.

Goulet said the dates usually "sugar up" and release the water stored inside closer to harvest. If it's humid, the water can't escape, he said.

The trees' age also can hurt a harvest. Too young or too old and the palm trees don't produce as much.

Many of the best producing trees are on land being sold to development.

Rocketing prices for land have made it more lucrative for farmers to sell off their farms and move to Mecca or Thermal. The landmark Shield Date Gardens store and grove in Indio is in escrow and soon could move east.

Sometimes farmers take the trees with them, but often they start over with new plants.

One date farmer, Albert Keck, is asking other growers to hold on to their groves until the trees lose their productivity to keep the harvest numbers up. Much of the 4,000 date-producing acres include immature trees incapable of producing the usual amount.

The declining harvest could lead to a shortage of locally grown dates, but if needed foreign imports could supplant crops in stores, he said.

"We are scrambling to fill markets and we don't want to create a vacuum for imports," said Keck.

Palms don't truly start producing dates until they are 5 or 6 years old, and most other Coachella Valley farms are about 60 years old, near the end of a palm tree's life cycle, said Keck.

Date palm trees also have become popular as ornamental landscaping, taking them out of the harvest stock.

"Date palms are really not a short-term endeavor," said Keck, the owner of Hadley Dates and the chairman of the California Date Administrative Committee. "We're just in a transition point in the industry right now."

Dates are among the highest-valued commodities in Riverside County, worth about $38.8 million last year.

Coachella Valley date farms typically harvest Deglet Noor, Halawy, Khadrawy, Zahidi and Medjool dates. Shields Date Gardens also produces hybrid Blondes and Brunettes.

DECLINING HARVEST: Annual date yields over the past six years:

--2005: under 25 million pounds*

--2004: under 25 million pounds

--2003: 26 million pounds

--2002: 38 million pounds

--2001: 33 million pounds

--2000: 31 million pounds

*Estimated

Source: California Date Administrative Committee

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.

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Source: The Press-Enterprise

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