 Fresh market carrots |
 Thinning cantaloupes |
 Field harvesting broccoli. |
 Harvesting Wheat |
 Cattle Feedlot |
 Colorado water delivery |
 Field packing 'Sweet Imperial' onions. |
 Field packing of honeydew melons. |
 Alfalfa hay bale |
Winters are mild and dry with daily maximum temperatures in the 65 to 75ºF (18-24ºC). Summers are extremely hot with daily maximum temperatures of 104 to 115ºF (40-46ºC). The annual rainfall is just over 3 inches (7.5 cm) with most of it coming in late summer or midwinter.
In 1999 Imperial Valley had 572,286 harvested acres worth $1,045,092,000. Leading crops in the area in 1999 are vegetables (122,063 acres -value $458 million, agronomic crops (368,517 acres -value $257 million), livestock(Value $220 million) fruit & nuts(5,812 acres -value $34.7 million), seed & nursery(75,894 -value $72 million, and apiary products($3 million).
Imperial Valley has a well-known reputation for midwinter salad vegetables. Shipments of crisphead lettuce, leaf lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage start in December and continue until March. Asparagus is in-season January, February and March. Carrots are harvested January to June.
Spring production of warm-season vegetables starts in late April with the harvest of Sweet Imperial onions, sweet corn, bell pepper, chili peppers, cantaloupes, mixed melons and watermelons.
Alfalfa is the number one agronomic crop with over 173,000 acres in production. The majority of the alfalfa is baled for shipment to California dairies. This is the largest alfalfa growing region in the world. Some alfalfa is exported.
Sugar beets are a major crop, with yields on 34,000 acres in production averaging 40 tons/acre. Most of the wheat is duram types for pasta production. Sudangrass for hay is the third leading field crop with 66,000 acres in production.Most of the sudangrass is used for export to the Pacific Rim countries. Wheat is the fourth leading agronomic crop with 44,000 acres produced.
In 1999 there were 325,000 head of cattle in feedlots. The cattle had a gross
value of $167 million. Imperial County has the largest number of feedlot and
fed-cattle capacity in California.
Over 245,000 head of feeder lambs were
pastured on Imperial Valley alfalfa fields. During the 5 month winter feeding
period Imperial County has the largest concentration of feeder lambs in the nation. The lambs were worth $7.5 million.
Farmland consists of very fertile, alluvial deposits derived from the Colorado River flood plain. Well-drain loams and silty loams are the preferred soil types. Since the area was developed in near the turn of the century by water & and land companies, the fields were marked off in sections(1 mile x 1 mile). Parcels were subdivided into smaller and smaller units with 40 acres normally being the smallest farmable size. The average price of farmland is $2,000-$5,000 per acre depending upon land quality. Factors governing price of land include soil type, drainage, location, cement ditches, access to paved roads, underground drain systems.
