Water in the desert

Have you ever wondered how we can farm in the desert? Check out this great video that John Powell Jr. did regarding the water in the Coachella Valley.

Peter Rabbit Farms Harvest Schedule - 2010/2011

Coachella Valley Agriculture - Economic Forecast 2011

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Coachella Valley Agriculture - Economic Forecast 2011

The Desert Sun Recognizes Green Practices of Peter Rabbit Farms

Technologies Help Improve Agriculture
Mike Perrault - The Desert Sun - 4/19/2010

When Peter Rabbit Farms owner John Powell Jr. observes tons of glistening orange carrots being loaded onto trucks, he thinks green. It's not so much the green of money — although that certainly keeps the third-generation family-operated farm in good stead. Rather, he sees it as another opportunity to embrace an innovative, environmentally friendly practice.

Peter Rabbit Farms recently began washing tons of carrots before loading them into trucks bound for packing houses in Bakersfield. By eliminating dirt, vines and other debris, the Coachella farm is able to pile substantially more carrots into each 80,000-pound truck. The result: The farm cuts about 10 round-trips per day, six or seven days a week, saving gas, cutting emissions and keeping more trucks off freeways.“Every carrot we grow in the Coachella Valley goes through this system,” said Powell, adding that water used to clean the carrots is recycled and reused.

The above excerpt from an article in The Desert Sun describes our carrot washout facility, which we put in place this year in cooperation with Bolthouse Farms. Using this system, we are able to significantly reduce the number of truck and trailer round-trips between Bakersfield and Coachella. The reduction in fuel use, vehicle miles, labor and pollution are a great addition to the cost savings we are able to achieve.

This is a set of carrots just in from the field. Carrots are machine harvested, and some dirt does come in with the carrots. Our objective is to remove the dirt before making the trip to the Bolthouse Farms packing facility in Bakersfield.

Carrots are washed out of the set with water.

The carrots and the water are agitated as they are metered through the facility.

Clean carrots then travel down a conveyor to be loaded back into empty trailer sets.


Once full, the trailers are tarped prior to being transported to the Bolthouse Farms packing facility in Bakersfield, California. Notice how high the load is. This is because volume per ton of clean carrots is greater than the volume per ton of carrots mixed with dirt.

Our wash water is recirculated during the day, minimizing overall water use.

Here, the excess dirt is being moved out of the settling pond. Much of it has been used for the construction of two new soccer fields for the youth in the City of Coachella.

Spring Crop Update April 20, 2010

We are well into our green bell pepper harvest, and the quaility is excellent. Our field-packing ensures less handling for minimal impact to each pepper.

TABLE GRAPE UPDATE - HARVEST TO BEGIN MID-MAY 2010!

The table grape crop is very good this spring, as seen here. This is our last ranch of Flame Seedless table grapes as the crew is leafing the vines. Many of these bunches will be removed from the vines over the next week to allow the vines to properly bring the remaining bunches to maturity. Here the crop is so heavy that we will drop nearly half the existing bunches, and still have a very large crop remaining. This ranch is looking good, and will be ready for harvest in June.

Seen below are the Sugraone variety, also a very large crop. This is also our last ranch of the season, scheduled for harvest in June.

Easter Donation of Broccoli

Peter Rabbit Farms made a generous donation of fresh produce to Hidden Harvest in April 2010, which is depicted in these photos.

Hidden Harvest is unique among entities that provide food to the thousands of hungry people of Southern California because they have the resources to “glean” unharvested produce directly from the farm fields.

These photos were taken on April 3, 2010 when Hidden Harvest sent a crew of 10 people into our broccoli field. They were able to rescue this produce that was left by one of our growing partners because of scheduling issues.

We are really glad we were able to help out by finding a way to get this beautiful and nutritious crop to the people who cannot afford fresh produce as a regular part of their diet. We want to thank Hidden Harvest for providing a much needed service.

This broccoli graced the Easter dinner table of the Powell family, and also found its way to the tables of those less fortunate. Here is a photo of Suzanne Powell with a large head of broccoli.

Where does your food come from?

When was the last time you really thought about where your food comes from? When you visit your local produce department do you wander around just enjoying the colors and varieties of the season or do you just pick up what you need and move on? We, in the produce industry, really enjoy a trip the produce department at our local supermarkets. It helps us reconnect with the greatness of our industry. We spend everyday serving the world with good nutritional food that to most goes unnoticed, but to the trained eye there is a lot more to see.

It all starts with the right soil for the job. Here in the Coachella Valley we have some of the sandiest soil in the nation. It drains really well. There is very little delay in re-entering our fields after a rain storm because of the sandy soil. The right seed or transplant makes all the difference in the world. You need the right variety to go with our soil and weather here in the Coachella Valley. Once it is planted you then have to protect it. We spend a large amount of man hours making sure nature in some cases birds do not reclaim that seed or transplant. Young tender plants need tender love and nutrition just like our kids. Lots of sunshine, good clean water and plant food makes these young plants grow up strong and healthy.

Our water is tested and our fields are monitored to make sure everything is perfect. Then when everything is just right our babies are picked, packed, cooled and shipped to you generally within a 24 hour window.

Many other things go into getting the produce to the local grocery stores such as: a food safety program that insures the safest methods are used to plant, water, grow, harvest, and ship our produce; ordering containers that will protect the produce as it is transported; a trained irrigation crew that knows the right times to water; receiving, shipping, sales, and office staff to handle all the details during the growing and after the produce is harvested.

The next time you go into the produce department of your local market take the time to enjoy how much color and variety the farmers of America bring to the table every day.