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Homes Sprout in Place of Produce As Farmers Sell Land to Developers

Posted on: Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 00:00 CST

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

Jan. 25--A tour of the Coachella Valley's agriculture industry is tantamount to a real estate showcase.

What once was a grape orchard is now a gated community. A lettuce farm might soon be the next place for development.

Before the classic movie stars and lush golf courses, the Coachella Valley was dominated by farming.

Today, only table grapes and dates take up as much space as the more than 120 golf courses combined.

A California Women for Agriculture daylong tour aimed to educate residents about the Coachella Valley's $416.4 million agriculture industry (2004 figures) revealed diminished farm land in the shadow of housing developments. It also showed the need for local farm operations to produce year-round with less labor in order to be lucrative enough to maintain the land as agricultural.

At Desert Mist Farms in Oasis, farm laborers pick romaine lettuce, slice off extra leaves, rinse, package and prepare the produce for grocery store shelves in less than a minute. A crowd of tourists watched workers harvest what would soon be headed to Costco Wholesale outlets.

But even producing 900 cartons of lettuce an acre at a frenetic pace isn't enough. Art Barrientos, vice president of harvesting for Central California-based Ocean Mist Farms, said he could use at least three more workers.

Farther west toward Palm Springs, more than one farm sat surrounded by house frames or gated communities. More than 100 agriculture tourists riding down Monroe Avenue in Indio saw a walled housing community on the right and a field of artichokes on the left.

"Across the street I used to have lettuce; now it's Del Webb Sun City," said Jeff Percy, vice president of production for Ocean Mist Farms.

Percy's artichoke farming operation has housing developments on two sides. Another field with artichokes two streets away on Avenue 42 and Monroe might soon neighbor a massive retail development by LA developer Richard Weintraub.

Ann Copeland, a CWA member and the tour's narrator, noticed a new development.

"Good God, when did they put this up? This used to all be grapes," she said, realizing the irony of the community's name, The Vineyards. "It's really hard for a grower who doesn't have any children interested in (farming) to resist a developer."

Joe Perez, the ranch manager of Belk Farms in Coachella near the 86 Expressway along Airport Boulevard, is in a prime location for developers.

The owner of a nearby 200-acre farm sold his land to developers.

Perez knows the patch of land he manages bearing 272 acres of strawberries and onions will be bought. But the owner doesn't intend to give up farming; he'll only sell if he can get more land somewhere else, Perez said.

Somewhere else is likely farther east, and the only way for farming to survive more development growth is to get as much production from the land as possible, said Mark Nickerson, managing partner of Prime Time International in Oasis.

Nickerson's bell pepper operation uses expensive greenhouse technology, but his company can sustain the peppers until the market is right. On the outside that wouldn't be possible. The company fits 100,000 plants on 46 acres of greenhouses, with each plant producing 15 to 20 peppers.

"It gets the job done, it's pretty reliable and there's not too many bells and whistles," said Nickerson, who benefits from the natural underground water on the property. "We couldn't afford to do this operation" without it, he said.

DESERT AGRICULTURE

The Coachella Valley is the largest producer of agricultural crops in Riverside County, which reported production valued at $798.9 million last year. The figure excludes livestock, poultry and fish farms. The Coachella Valley alone produced:

2001 -- $450.7 million

2002 -- $425.6 million

2003 -- $405.6 million

2004 -- $416.4 million

Source: Riverside County Agricultural Commissioner's 2004 Annual Crop Report

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.

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Source: The Press-Enterprise

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