The Coachella Valley
The Coachella Valley extends roughly 45 miles through Riverside County, from the San Bernardino Mountains southeast to the Salton Sea.
The Coachella Valley is the primary date-growing region in the United States, responsible for nearly 95 percent of the nation's crop — celebrated each year in Indio at the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival. The earliest attempts at growing dates came in 1890, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture imported date palm offshoots from Iraq and Egypt.
Today, in the Coachella Valley, nearly all of the valley's date groves are in the East Valley, south of Indio, near Coachella and east of La Quinta. The valley also grows table grapes; citrus such as lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruit; onions and leeks; and peppers.
Over the decades, the valley floor has produced an extraordinary range of crops — from artichokes, avocados and figs to mangoes, pomegranates, strawberries, sugar cane, tomatoes and herbs. The Coachella grapefruit originated here, and the city of Coachella remains the region's primary shipping point for agricultural goods.
