Valley Agribusiness 2021

2 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

Publishers’ Message

Through it all I.V. agriculture keeps growing

I

mperial Valley growers are a hardy lot. They have to be.

Routinely they are confronted by challenges and adversities that could damage or even destroy their crops.

Sometimes nature delivers the blow in the form of torrential rain, potentially crop-killing frost or a new pest or plant disease. Sometimes the economy takes a tumble or the market drops. Or maybe a foodborne illness outbreak or political trouble in an international market or even an unthinkable global pandemic.

Somehow, through it all, Imperial Valley agribusiness keeps on growing. Valley growers keep adapting to any and every challenge that comes along and improving what is grown here. Telling the story about Imperial Valley agribusiness is both the pleasure and purpose of this magazine.

This edition is rich with the unexpected and often unpredictable situations that affect Imperial Valley agriculture.

The region’s agricultural resilience is due in part to the region’s exceptional year-round growing season that supports an unusually diverse agricultural industry.

More than 70 different commodities and crops were grown on Imperial Valley farmland during the year with a value of $2.02 billion in 2019, the most recent year for which data was available in the Imperial

County Agricultural Commissioner’s Annual Crop Report.

That diversity means even when some crop values drop during a year, or one of the sundry potential challenges arise, there are other industry bright spots that help stabilize Imperial Valley’s agricultural industry, its farm labor workforce and the county’s economy.

Despite total crop value dropping 9 percent in 2019, Imperial County remained among the top 10 ag-producing regions in California. According to the California compilation of all 58 county agricultural reports for 2018-19, Imperial County was a major state producer of multiple crops. For instance, the report listed Imperial County as the state’s top producer of alfalfa hay, sweet corn, Sudan hay, alfalfa seed and the state’s only producer of sugar beets.

The report lists Imperial County as California’s second largest producer of cattle, lettuce, carrots, broccoli, spinach, vegetable seed, dates, cantaloupe and honeydew.

Imperial also is among the top five counties that produced cauliflower, onions, wheat, cabbage potatoes and watermelon. With its winter produce growing season, it should come as no surprise that Imperial County is often billed as “the nation’s winter salad bowl.”

Beyond the abundance of what they produce, Imperial Valley growers stand out for the way they are willing to tackle any emerging challenge head-on.

As a prime produce-growing region, Imperial Valley growers have made food safety a top priority as E. coli and other foodborne illnesses first emerged as a health issue. Local growers have been highly active in developing and implementing food safety programs and protocols since the first E. coli outbreak was linked to leafy greens. Today, growers say food safety is a constant process that affects virtually every facet of their growing operations.

Yet in early 2020, amid the busy winter produce season, Valley growers began to realize they would have to confront another food and worker health and safety issue: the COVID-19 pandemic. In this magazine you will read about how Valley growers quickly came together to add safety measures and programs to keep farm workers and the food supply healthy and safe.

We hope you enjoy this edition and the articles it contains that showcase the spirit of Valley agribusiness that continues to grow strong despite whatever challenges lie ahead. 

2019 PRODUCTION SUMMARY

CATEGORY

HARVESTED ACRES

2018

2019

CHANGES IN HARVESTED ACRES

LIVESTOCK

GROSS VALUE

CHANGES IN GROSS VALUE

2018

2019

$532,130,000

$522,309,000

-1.85%

FIELD CROPS

341,229

344,435

0.94%

$507,849,000

$498,165,000

-1.91%

VEGETABLE & MELON CROPS

132,604

120,415

-9.19%

$984,472,000

$799,424,000

-18.80%

FRUIT & NUTS CROPS

10,328

9,606

-6.99%

$83,909,000

$75,636,000

-9.86%

SEED & NURSERY PRODUCTS

53,031

53,404

0.70%

$109,210,000

$113,690,000

4.10%

$8,461,000

$6,619,000

-21.77%

$2,226,031,000

$2,015,843,000

-9.44%

APIARY PRODUCTS TOTAL

537,192

527,860

-1.74%

Total harvested acres include multiple cropping on individual fields throughout the year.

VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 3

VOLUME 4 EDITORS & PUBLISHERS Bill Gay Sue Gay Susan Giller Peggy Dale Bill Amidon

CONTRIBUTORS Antoine Abou-Diwan Shelby Dill Brea Mohamed Kay Day Pricola Darren Simon

COVER PHOTO

Charla Teeters-Stewart

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Alejandra Noriega

PHOTOGRAPHERS Charla Teeters-Stewart Bill Amidon Bill Gay Peggy Dale Susan Giller

WEB DESIGNERS

COVER PHOTO: Farm workers wear protective gear while harvesting cabbage in early 2021.

- Photo By Charla Teeters-Stewart

Jesus Uriarte Sergio Uriarte

INDEX

SALES

Bill Amidon John Lovecchio bill.amidon@reliancepr.com 760-693-5330

STORIES

BY THE NUMBERS

6

FOOD SAFETY

7

LIVESTOCK

SUBSCRIPTIONS

8

WATER CONSERVATION

17

FIELD CROPS

10

FARM BUREAU

20

VEGETABLES & MELONS

12

KAY DAY PRICOLA RETIRES

26

FRUITS & NUTS

14

VEGETABLE GROWERS

30

SEEDS & NURSERY PRODUCTS

16

REMEMBERING KEVIN KELLEY

22

FARM SMART GOES VIRTUAL

24

REMEMBERING 4 WHO LED THE WAY

ADVERTISING

(Includes Valley Agribusiness and quarterly Imperial Valley Alive!)

Send name address and email address with $21.70, includes tax, to:

Reliance Public Relations, Inc. P.O. Box 1944 • El Centro, CA 92244 www.ValleyAgriBiz.com Valley Agribusiness is published annually by Reliance Public Relations, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical for any purpose without the written permission of Reliance Public Relations, Inc.

4 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 5

Cabbage is harvested in an Imperial Valley field in early 2021. - Photo By Charla Teeters-Stewart

Food Safety Efforts added to stop pandemic spread

By Darren Simon

S

ince the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the local agricultural community, working in partnership with Imperial County, has taken steps to ensure its already rigorous food safety programs are expanded to prevent the virus from spreading and jeopardizing Valley-grown products.

For Imperial County, the safety effort has included distributing nearly 1.6 million surgical masks to agricultural workers along with hundreds of gallons of hand sanitizer and other personal protective equipment.

For farm operations, from the fields to the cattle ranches, processing plants to coolers, safety protocols and training immediately zeroed in on protecting workers and their families and, by extension, the crops, beef and other products that are so critical to ensuring an ongoing supply of safe, highquality food.

6 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

“America never missed a meal,” said Steve Snow, general manager of Phillips Cattle in rural El Centro. “We are still producing beef the way we always have, and the safety has never been in question.”

Snow is also president of the Imperial Valley Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business (COLAB), an organization advocating for the needs of those sectors.

COLAB has worked in tandem with the Imperial County Farm Bureau, Imperial County government agencies, and others, like Comite Civico Del Valle — an environmental justice and community advocacy group — on an initiative to ensure farm workers have access to testing and vaccinations.

A cornerstone of that initiative has been mobile COVID-19 testing through a medical bus provided to the County by the State that has targeted the farming industry as well as

CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

A mobile unit provides onsite testing.

- Photo By Charla Teeters-Stewart

- Photo By Charla Teeters-Stewart

LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION

CROP

YEAR

HEAD

UNIT GAIN

TOTAL GAIN

UNIT

VALUE PER UNIT

GROSS VALUE

CATTLE (FEEDLOT)

2019

386,295

10.16

3,924,760

CWT

$114.41

$449,021,000

2018

379,129

10.27

3,894,412

CWT

$120.64

$469,832,000

AQUATIC PRODUCTS (FISH & ALGAE)

2019

$18,282,000

2018

$10,244,000

2019

$55,006,000

2018

$52,054,000

MISC. LIVESTOCK

TOTAL 2019

VALUE

$522,309,000

TOTAL 2018

VALUE

$532,130,000

Misc. Livestock may include: Calves, Replacement Cattle, Dairy Animals, Milk, Manure/Compost, Sheep, Wool, California Mid-Winter Fair & Fiesta Show Animals Cwt = 100 Pounds

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VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 7

On-Farm Conservation Growing well and efficiently

By Susan Giller

I

mperial Valley growers are darn good at what they do. They prove that annually by growing just about anything under the sun. Now, Valley growers continue to produce the same abundance even while implementing onfarm efficiency conservation measures needed to create water for the ag-to-urban water transfer agreement between the Imperial Irrigation District and the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA).

“Our farmers are super innovative,” said Tina Shields, IID water manager.

That may explain why since 2013, when the required fallowing conservation began an aggressive four-year conversion to efficiency-based on-farm conservation as required under the transfer agreement, growers have shown a willingness and ability to meet and even exceed the onfarm conservation goals while producing $2.02 billion in agricultural output in 2019, the most recent year for which data is available.

The SDCWA transfer agreement was first implemented in 2003 as part of the historic Quantification System Agreement (QSA), which calls for water efficiency conservation, transfers and other actions to assist California in reducing its use of Colorado River water to its annual 4.4 million acre-feet entitlement. Included in the epic agreement are both the SDCWA transfer and a smaller conserved water transfer to the Coachella Valley Water District. In the QSA, IID agreed to annually ramp up water conservation to 303,000 acre-feet by 2026 through a variety of methods, including system improvements,

8 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

Rubber hoses supply water to a drip irrigation system under the on-farm efficiency conservation program. Below, a portable tailwater recovery system pumps water to an adjacent field. - Photos and graphic information courtesy of IID. temporary fallowing and on-farm efficiency conservation. The transfers continue at that level through 2047 with potential extensions through 2077.

The hallmark of the IID-SDCWA transfer is that urban users pay the cost of conserving water from agricultural uses. The agreement stipulated that all conservation after 2017 must be efficiency-based with a significant share of the water coming from on-farm programs.

Implementing on-farm efficiency conservation measures are not easy or inexpensive. SDCWA pays IID for the use of the conserved water and the District annually contracts with growers

to participate in the On-Farm Efficiency Conservation Program (OFECP) to create the water for transfer in ways that support agriculture and do not adversely affect farm productivity.

“Imperial Valley growers are very creative and have been willing to try various approaches and conservation measures,” Shields said, “making the on-farm conservation program quite successful.”

The OFECP continues to evolve even as the transfer volumes peak and then stabilize. It has not always been smooth sailing as growers and IID have wrestled over payment rates, schedules and program details.

When the on-farm conservation component of the water transfer began in 2013, the District contracted more acreage than needed to prepare for the ramp-up to meet the annual transfer requirements. The thinking was growers needed to experiment with on-farm efficiency conservation measures and implementation efforts, and this was not a program that could be turned on or off at a moment’s notice since it involves actively growing crops. Initially, Shields said, IID was willing to incur deficit spending from annual budgets to encourage grower participation in order to prepare for the increasing levels of on-farm conservation in future years and because revenue increases were anticipated with the transfer amounts ramping up.

And, during at least part of that time, IID had been able to store water conserved above the transfer requirement for future use in the Valley.

Over the years, the OFECP

rules were modified as the District learned about administering the program and concerns were identified by growers.

“It takes flexibility and a willingness to adapt the program over time to make things work for everyone,” Shields said, to explain the early years of the OFECP development.

Now Shields said, “IID is learning how to manage the program more effectively and farmers are learning how to maximize their conservation opportunities and integrate them with their agricultural practices.”

Success now creates its own challenges.

“You have to laud the growers for their effort,” Shields said. “However, they have been a little too willing to participate as the conservation estimates continue to increase while the district is already meeting its contractual obligations.”

This year is a pivotal year for the SDCWA transfer agreement and the OFECP. This year, the District reaches its maximum level conservation obligation – and the revenue it will receive – for the water transfer. The transfer volumes and associated revenue to the District, other than annual cost of living adjustments, will now remain roughly the same each subsequent year through 2047.

Simultaneously, IID’s ability to store excess efficiency conserved water in the Colorado River system or elsewhere has all but disappeared, as its water storage accounts are now full.

For that reason, the IID Board of Directors in December 2020 modified the OFECP program again, this time to reflect the stark conservation limitations and economic realities of the transfer.

Under the revised program, the IID Board capped the 2021 OFECP budget at $39,589,600 based on a target on-farm conservation goal of 136,667 acre-feet toward the SDCWA transfer obligation in 2021. This OFECP volume is roughly twothirds of the total 205,000 acre-feet to be transferred to San Diego for the year.

Also, for the first time, the OFECP

Historical Contracted Conservation Measures

By Conservation Yield

By Acreage

39% Sprinkler 5%

Drip

1%

inor management and Physical M Improvements, Ditch Lining and other Conservation Measures

8%

Irrigation Scheduling and Event Management

4%

Field Reconfiguration

31%

Land Leveling

8%

Tailwater Recovery System, Portable

4%

Tailwater Recovery System, Permanent

40% Sprinkler 5%

Drip

1%

inor management and Physical M Improvements, Ditch Lining and other Conservation Measures

8%

Irrigation Scheduling and Event Management

3%

Field Reconfiguration

30% Land Leveling 9%

Tailwater Recovery System, Portable

4%

Tailwater Recovery System, Permanent

CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 9

Imperial County Farm Bureau

By Brea Mohamed Executive Director

Farming plays essential role

S

ince 1915, the Imperial County Farm Bureau has advocated on behalf of the Imperial Valley’s agriculture community. Every year brings new issues and challenges, but 2020 was definitely one for the record books for Imperial County farmers and ranchers, just as it was for our community as a whole. While 2020 brought many adversities and far too much loss, Imperial County agriculture responded with perseverance, innovation, adaptability and courage, and Farm Bureau’s role in advocacy and education became as important as ever.

Imperial County has been adversely impacted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and has had little relief along the way. Nonetheless, our local diverse ag industry has continued to feed the world throughout this past year despite being faced with the hardest of circumstances, and all ag employees play a huge role in carrying out this hefty responsibility.

While much of our state was ordered to stay home, our workforce continued to plant, harvest, raise, process and transport food to feed the nation. Imperial County was in its last couple months of its peak agricultural production season when the COVID-19 pandemic started to escalate in 2020. Overnight, our industry adjusted its practices to better protect our employees and ensure their health and safety.

As guidance and regulations have changed over this last year, farms have continued to adjust their practices in response.

When this magazine issue comes out, we will be about one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, and facing a new challenge: COVID-19 vaccines.

From December to February, Imperial County has not had enough vaccines allocated to our area to get our community inoculated. We have watched as other counties have begun vaccinating their agricultural employees, and we continue to advocate for Imperial County

10 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

to receive an equitable share of the vaccines so that our employees can have another layer of protection against this virus.

Farm Bureau has played a critical role in educating farmers and ranchers on the many issues related to COVID-19 this year, including the ever-changing regulations related to COVID-19 and assistance programs available in response to the pandemic. Our county office alone has sent out over 25 email updates related to COVID-19. We’ve also heavily advocated for guidance and regulations that are science-based and implementable instead of threatening to the future of our businesses.

It may be hard to believe, but while COVID-19 was definitely our top issue in 2020, we had plenty more of our normal issues as well. As always, water remains a hot topic, and the Farm Bureau continues to advocate to preserve Imperial Valley’s water rights and protect our farmers’ investments in on-farm conservation.

We’ve also worked on a wide variety of other issues that affect the farmers and ranchers in the Imperial County, including, labor, land use, food safety and ag literacy.

This year, our ag literacy efforts continued, and we partnered again with Farm Smart, Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association, and Imperial Valley Water for our third annual “Read with a Farmer Day.” This year, we went virtual! Both live and pre-recorded readings were available for classrooms throughout the county to participate.

Additionally, those same groups plus Imperial Valley Women for Agriculture and Farm Credit West provided grants to local teachers to implement projects that helped teach students the importance of agriculture and the vital role it plays in our community. Furthermore, despite having to cancel our annual scholarship barbecue, our ag community came together and made great contributions to our scholarship program. Because of this support, in 2020, Imperial County Farm Bureau administered $56,000 in scholarships to local students who plan to pursue careers in agriculture-related

fields.

As a technical assistance provider for the CDFA’s Climate Smart Agriculture Program, we partnered with the UC Cooperative Extension to provide workshops and assistance to local farmers and ranchers interested in the Healthy Soils Program or Alternative Manure Management Program. Imperial County is too frequently left out of statewide funding opportunities, but we took a step toward changing that this year. In 2020, 13 Imperial County farms received over $1 million in grant funds through the Healthy Soils Program.

In addition to our county staff working on local initiatives, California Farm Bureau (CAFB) has staff that is focusing on state and federal issues. They are in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., fighting for us on a daily basis. The CAFB staff keeps the counties abreast of what is happening on state and national levels and county staff provides CAFB with the issues that they are hearing from their members. As you can imagine, this relationship was especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Throughout this past year, there have been a growing number of unknowns that our farms and ranches have faced. We have all experienced great loss of too many people we care for and love, including the passing of four of Farm Bureau’s past Farmer of the Year honorees.

But, through it all, we have continued to keep our faith and persevere day after day. In this time especially, it is important for us all to appreciate the hard work and dedication exhibited by everyone who helps put food on our tables, including our farmers, ranchers, and food and agricultural employees.

Advocacy for our industry is more important than ever. Agriculture plays a vital role in the Imperial County’s past, present and future, and as we saw this past year, agriculture is an essential industry that must continue even while most of the nation stays at home. Through the Farm Bureau, we can ensure that our industry can not only continue to feed the world but also can thrive for years to come. n

- Photo By Charla Teeters-Stewart

VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 11

Kay Day Pricola works hard at retirement

By Antoine Abou-Diwan

K

ay Day Pricola stepped down from her role as executive director of the Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association and the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business (COLAB) in December, and has officially retired again.

Although the Brawley resident does many things well, retirement is not one of them.

She has since secured several consultancy agreements and is spearheading the adjacent lands issue for the IVVGA. The adjacent lands issue is rooted in an E. coli outbreak in romaine lettuce in Yuma that was attributed to a feedlot there. Although no outbreaks have been traced back to Imperial Country, vegetable growers are alarmed because some buyers are refusing produce that was grown within a particular distance from feedlots.

“There’s no scientific data to tell you what that distance should be,” Pricola said.

“There’s been an arbitrary distance set up based on the size of the feedlot.”

Imperial County has a large number of feedlots, and vegetable growers worry that growing restrictions on nearby fields could lock them out of using vast tracts of land.

That the Valley’s vegetable growers entrusted Pricola with the adjacent lands issue speaks volumes about her ability to get things done. She is tireless, outspoken and played a key role in turning around COLAB and the Vegetable Growers Association.

COLAB and the IVVGA were at a critical juncture when Pricola came on board in March 2013. Membership was down. COLAB was in the red. Not even its webpage worked properly, she said.

The validity of the massive Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), which had been challenged by Imperial Valley farmers for about a decade, was upheld by the Sacramento Superior Court a few weeks after Pricola was hired. The QSA requires the IID shift the use of up to 300,000 acrefeet of water every year to coastal and urban areas.

Pricola identified three priorities: financial stability, outreach to the agriculture community and outreach to the government entities — Imperial Irrigation District and the County. But to do so, she needed to get a handle on water issues as

12 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

Kay Day Pricola with her husband, Nick.

- Courtesy photo soon as possible, and she needed to get her two organizations — particularly COLAB — moving in the right direction. The IVVGA was carrying COLAB’s overhead, and the latter owed the former $17,000, she said.

Stanching COLAB’s losses was relatively easy, Pricola said. It simply took some attention to detail, some judicious costcutting, and some creative fundraising and community outreach.

“I have a master’s in finance,” she said. “If I can’t look at a set of numbers and figure out where the bleeding is, then I probably shouldn’t say I have a master’s in finance.”

COLAB was out of debt by October of that year, seven months after Pricola came on board.

Understanding water was a bigger task.

“I had to first figure out what’s the QSA,” Pricola said. “When you’re flung into something that’s 10 years old at that point, you have to play catchup quickly.”

Understanding the nation’s largest ag-tourban water transfer is a major undertaking: You have to understand the history of the West, the laws of the Colorado River and the volumes of water to which the various parties are entitled. This is where a polarizing Northend farmer stepped in.

“Mike Morgan was instrumental in teaching me all things water,” Pricola said.

“He quit going to IID meetings and spent time educating me on water.”

Pricola was not hard to find before the pandemic changed everything. If she wasn’t inspecting a farm field or in her office on Business Park Way in Imperial, you were certain to find her listening closely in the audience at Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors meetings or County Board of Supervisors meetings, as well as various other committee meetings throughout the week.

She occasionally took the podium to raise pertinent questions and deliver sharp observations to the officials seated at the dais.

“In order to influence decisions, you have to have a working relationship with the decision-makers,” Pricola said. “I had to personally be known by the folks making the decisions. To do that you have to show up at meetings.”

She worked with the IID to revise its procurement policy to favor local businesses, worked with the County and City of Imperial to improve traffic flow on Austin Road, and weighed in on all sorts of community matters, big and small.

“Kay is really one of the most knowledgeable people I’ve interviewed on ag issues and ag advocacy,” said Richard Montenegro Brown, editor of the Calexico Chronicle and Holtville Tribune, and former longtime local content editor at the Imperial Valley Press.

“Kay has the unique ability to zero in on an issue and attack it with a force that you would need for a very specialized group like the ag growers. She can be a prickly character. It’s part of her charm. It’s why she is so effective.”

Leaving COLAB and Veg Growers is Pricola’s third attempt at retirement.

“I first retired from American Airlines when I was 50 years old, financially set, never having to work again, and I got bored,” she said. “Boredom does not suit me well.”

Pricola sold her house in St. Louis, Mo., and moved to Brawley in 2004 to be closer to Nick Pricola, a CPA, whom she was dating at the time. They married two years later.

She worked for Pioneers Memorial Hospital as a public relations director for six years, and retired again, when she turned

65.

“I sat around doing nothing for some period of time,” Pricola said.

“I was bored.”

So she looked around and saw that COLAB and IVVGA were looking to hire an executive director.

“I went out to the webpage to find out what they did and the webpage was not operational,” she said. “So I turned in an application late, and they interviewed me and hired me.”

J.P. LaBrucherie was president of IVVGA at the time.

“It was an amazing pick. She was fantastic,” he said. “We were looking for her to be a strong voice for the veg industry. She’s kept us abreast of major challenges we’ve faced, such as food safety and labor issues.”

Pricola’s organizational, project-management and communication skills, which she’d honed over many years working for American Airlines and Pioneers Memorial Hospital, were ideally suited for her work with COLAB and IVVGA. Both organizations gave Pricola plenty of room to maneuver and develop.

“What I didn’t have when I came to Veg Growers was an in-depth knowledge of ag, and an in-depth knowledge of relationships in Imperial Valley that drive a lot of the politics,” she said. “But you pick that up pretty quickly or you don’t pick it up at all.”

It’s hard to say how long Pricola manages to stay in retirement this time. She looks forward to traveling when that is possible again. In the meantime, she has consultancy contracts and projects to keep her busy.

“Even if you’ve butted heads with Kay, everybody in Imperial Valley owes Kay gratitude,” said IVVGA President Scott Howington.

“She’s been super effective at everything she’s touched. She has a lot of foresight. She sees things before many people do.” n

VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 13

Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association

Health, safety are main focus

By Shelby Dill Executive Director

T

he No. 1 priority of the Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association is providing our nation with the freshest, most nutritious and, most importantly, the safest fruits and vegetables. Food safety doesn’t just begin at harvest. Protocols start to be implemented before the first seed is sown, before a field is prepped for planting, and before the first drop of water hits the ground.

This year, as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world, our growers heightened their efforts to protect the farm workers who are vital to harvesting the produce we all enjoy.

Food safety is the act of taking preventative measures to reduce the risk of contaminating the food supply chain (e.g., growing, harvesting, packing, processing, cooling, etc.).

While IVVGA has members in all aspects of vegetable production, everyone can agree on one thing: food and farmworker safety is their focus at all times.

Our farm workers keep food safety their main priority, even in the midst of a pandemic.

COVID-19 has impacted everyone, but the one thing that has remained constant is that we all need to eat. Imperial County farm workers are to thank for the food on your table, considering more than half the vegetables consumed by Americans in the winter months come from Imperial County.

Since the pandemic began, IVVGA has been working with growers to help protect farm workers from infection. In efforts to prevent the spread of this deadly virus, we advocated for a mobile testing unit to test local agricultural businesses. Along with the Imperial County Farm Bureau, IVVGA provided outreach and education to the businesses encouraging them to test their employees. This mobile unit was able to test over 500 employees per day at no cost to the employer or employee.

In the unfortunate event that an agricultural worker tested positive or had been exposed to COVID-19 and could not safely isolate at home, a government program called Housing for Harvest was created. This program began in the Imperial Valley in late October, just in time to see an increase in the farmworker population in response to the harvest season.

Since its inception, this program has been a resource to Imperial Valley agricultural workers.

Agricultural employers have worked hard to collect personal protective equipment (PPE) to distribute to their employees. At the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020, an anonymous donation of more than 113,000 masks was given to IVVGA to distribute to farm workers. Since then, we have distributed free masks, face shields, gloves, and hand sanitizer to our agricultural workers.

Food safety continues to evolve as new issues – such as the pandemic -- arise.

IVVGA works to keep growers provided with news and information pertaining to food

safety and farmworker health. It is important that agricultural employers are up-to-date on recent events to keep everyone safe and in compliance. We also invite industry leaders to regular board meetings to share their food safety initiatives and give the board an opportunity for collaboration.

IVVGA member Braga Fresh is quick to point out that delivering produce of the highest quality while meeting all food safety standards is the top priority.

“Food Safety has always been of the utmost importance to Braga Fresh,” said Armando Figueroa, the company’s food safety and regulatory compliance manager. “The events over the last few years have made the leafy greens industry come together to improve food safety practices by sharing data, technology, and experience. Braga Fresh has and will continue to work closely with the industry to share our growing experience and robust food safety program.”

Food safety has and will continue to be our membership’s main focus. Imperial Valley has not had a reported case of E. coli, and we are fortunate that our members have your family’s health and safety at the forefront of all food safety protocols. We are also incredibly grateful for our hardworking essential farm workers, who even during a pandemic, are dedicated to providing the nation with vegetables. We will continue to update and use the best and safest practices so that you will always have fresh and safe food on your plate.  - Photo By Charla Teeters-Stewart

14 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 15

Kevin Kelley, Former IID GM, journalist, musician, dies at 61

By Richard Montenegro Brown Calexico Chronicle

(Reprinted with permission in abridged format)

A

brilliant writer and journalist, musician, and all-around scholar in the history of the Imperial Valley’s often complicated relationship with water, former Imperial Irrigation District General Manager Kevin Kelley died in his home on Jan. 19. He was 61 years old.

Kevin Kelley is survived by immediate family members, his wife, Mary Beth Kelley; daughters, Kathleen Spanos and Maureen Kelley, and son, Kevin Kelley. He had one grandchild.

“We are overcome with grief and the loss.

We are sharing our memories and lifting each other up,” Imperial County District 4 Supervisor Ryan Kelley wrote in a text message. “My big brother is with us all in spirit.”

“My heart is sinking with grief,” said IID Director Norma Sierra Galindo shortly after learning of Kelley’s death. “He was one of the most objective people I knew. Everything he saw he saw it in black and white, which always gave me a different perspective. He had a very analytical approach to things,” said Sierra Galindo, who had grown close to Kelley during her time on the IID board and while Kelley served as a consultant to the district following his retirement in January 2019.

Sierra Galindo was audibly broken up about Kelley’s passing during a phone interview with the Calexico Chronicle, saying he was among her closest and dearest friends, and a confidant.

She said, to her knowledge, Kelley was the longest-tenured general manager in the modern history of the Imperial Irrigation District, and his legacy is a rich one.

“There were many accomplishments,” Sierra Galindo said, one of the most important being Kelley’s lead role in demanding that the state Water Resources Control Board recognize and acknowledge California’s responsibility for restoring the Salton Sea. Kelley did this in November 2016, taking the fight straight to Sacramento, where he skewered the five-member board in an exchange that made state newswires and water and environmental blogs at the time.

“You assigned a task force to address this problem, but neither the task nor the force were sufficient to meet the scope of the problem,” Kelley was quoted in a wire service

16 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

Kevin Kelley - Photo provided by IID report. “The state has dithered and called it due diligence. We have a ticking time bomb, and you’ve treated it like a beach ball at a backyard picnic.

“The Salton Sea is no picnic,” Kelley added.

Now, more than four years later, the state is honoring its responsibilities, albeit in increments. Since Kelley’s showdown, much has occurred: California has implemented Phase 1 of the Salton Sea Management Plan and committed more than $300 million toward restoration efforts. Just last week, the first major construction project of the 10-year management plan got underway, the Species Conservation Habitat project.

Further, Sierra Galindo said, Kelley will be remembered for the instrumental role he played for the district in “winning the case against the Abatti family; he was really the mastermind in what we were doing.”

Although she said the case had been all but decided after his retirement, early on Kelley was pivotal in constructing the response to grower Mike Abatti’s long-running lawsuit in which he asserted the farmers and landowners are the ones who should have ultimate say over how water is used in the Imperial Valley.

A state appellate court last year overturned the local decision in the Abatti case that basically ruled the water rights were tied to the land, and thus, the provenance of the landowners.

“He thought the water belonged to all of us,” Sierra Galindo said, and she added that he paid dearly for those beliefs: “Those farmers, they bullied him, they picked on him. … But he stood his ground.”

The IID Board of Directors and management held a moment of silence to commemorate Kelley’s passing during Tuesday’s board meeting.

General Manager Enrique Martinez announced Kelley’s death earlier that day, adding that he gives his deepest condolences to Kelley’s family.

“I didn’t know Kevin as long as many of you had, but the time that I spent with him I found him to be not only a very personable individual, very opinionated on his ways of how he thought, but most of all he was just a fun person to be around,” Martinez said.

General Counsel Frank Oswalt also commented on the loss, saying he was in shock about Kelley’s death. Kelley was the general manager who hired Oswalt in 2016.

“He was an extraordinary human being,” Oswalt said. “He had a massive intellect. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of the (Colorado) River, and he had a wit that was so dry that sometimes it took me a few minutes to realize I had been skewered by one of his remarks. I will never forget the man.”

No directors offered any comments about Kelley during the meeting. Sierra Galindo was not in attendance, absent due to a personal engagement, she told the Chronicle.

Kevin Kelley’s professional legacy does indeed cast a long shadow. While relations between the district and the San Diego County Water Authority have at times been tense — the agencies are linked through an up-to-75year ag-to-urban water transfer pact — San Diego’s respect for Kelley was clear.

“We were saddened to learn of Kevin’s passing. During his years as general manager of the Imperial Irrigation District and in all his interactions with us, it was very clear his goal was always to serve the needs of the Imperial Valley, protect the Valley’s water rights and make sure the Salton Sea was addressed,” said Dan Denham, deputy general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority. “I would add that his knowledge of the Colorado River was always crucial to our conversations, and we appreciated his willingness to work

CONTINUED ON PAGE 33

FIELD CROPS PRODUCTION

CROP ALFALFA HAY BERMUDA GRASS HAY COTTON (LINT)1/ COTTON (SEED) KLEIN GRASS HAY PASTURED CROPS 2/ STRAW (BALED) SUDAN GRASS HAY SUGAR BEETS WHEAT MISC. FIELD CROPS TOTAL 2019 TOTAL 2018

YEAR

HARVESTED ACRES

YIELD PER ACRE

TOTAL GAIN

UNIT

VALUE PER UNIT

GROSS VALUE

2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018

150,562 155,171 64,660 55,638 3,938 3,075

7.92 7.54 8.60 10.22 2.25 3.45

20,952 17,932 42,950 43,371 61,276 128,499 53,141 53,562 25,417 24,417 14,127 24,932 11,638 6,502

9.43 13.03

1,191,859 1,169,723 556,240 568,757 8,861 10,614 3,168 4,130 197,491 233,564

5.07 6.41 47.20 47.73 3.51 3.43

275,021 343,094 1,199,642 1,165,423 49,629 85,530

TON TON TON TON BALE BALE TON TON TON TON ACRE ACRE TON TON TON TON TON TON TON TON

$182.44 $186.76 $150.29 $167.89 $447.53 $432.38 $147.50 $150.00 $154.41 $175.80 $37.23 $39.38 $34.26 $37.23 $138.61 $153.63 $51.68 $47.08 $246.67 $157.50

$217,446,000 $218,455,000 $83,597,000 $95,489,000 $3,965,000 $4,589,000 $467,000 $619,000 $30,494,000 $41,061,000 $1,599,000 $1,708,000 $2,099,000 $4,785,000 $38,867,000 $52,708,000 $62,050,000 $54,868,000 $12,242,000 $13,471,000 $45,339,000 $20,096,000

VALUE VALUE

$498,165,000 $507,849,000

ACRES ACRES

344,435 341,229

Misc. Field Crops may include: Barley, Field Corn, Mixed Grasses, Molasses, Oats, Rape, Ryegrass, Safflower, Sesbania, Sorghum Grain, Sorghum Silage, Sugarbeet Molasses, Sugarbeet Pulp, Sugarcane.

1/Cotton Bales = 500 Pounds

2/Pastured Crops are pastured once and the acreage is not included in the total and may include: Alfalfa, Bermuda Grass, Permanent Pasture

VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 17

2019 Crop Rank & Acreage

Imperial Irrigation District Water Department

2019 2018 CROP CROP ACRES % CUMULATIVE CUMULATIVE 2018 2017 CROP RANK RANK TYPE* DESCRIPTION ACRES % RANK RANK TYPE* 1 1 F ALFALFA (ALL) 139,543 31.1% 139,543 31.1% 44 42 G 2 2 F BERMUDAGRASS (ALL) 64,312 14.3% 203,855 45.5% 45 40 G 3 3 F SUDANGRASS (ALL) 46,283 10.3% 250,138 55.8% 46 59 G 4 4 G LETTUCE (ALL) 27,644 6.2% 277,782 62.0% 47 48 G 5 5 F SUGARBEETS 25,378 5.7% 303,160 67.6% 48 54 P 6 7 F KLEINGRASS 20,952 4.7% 324,112 72.3% 49 32 F 7 8 G CARROTS (ALL) 14,422 3.2% 338,534 75.5% 50 F 8 9 G ONIONS (ALL) 12,100 2.7% 350,634 78.2% 51 45 P 9 11 P DUCK PONDS 9,859 2.2% 360,493 80.4% 52 56 P 10 10 G BROCCOLI (ALL) 9,640 2.2% 370,133 82.6% 53 63 F 11 12 G CORN, SWEET 7,992 1.8% 378,125 84.3% 54 47 F 12 6 F WHEAT 7,899 1.8% 386,024 86.1% 55 44 G 13 15 G VEGETABLES, MIXED 7,155 1.6% 393,179 87.7% 56 51 G 14 14 P CITRUS (ALL) 7,123 1.6% 400,302 89.3% 57 52 F 15 13 G SPINACH 6,882 1.5% 407,184 90.8% 58 46 P 16 16 G MELONS, SPRING (ALL) 5,184 1.2% 412,368 92.0% 59 50 G 17 19 F CORN, FIELD 4,856 1.1% 417,224 93.1% 60 73 G 18 17 G CAULIFLOWER 3,662 0.8% 420,886 93.9% 61 55 G 19 27 F OATS 3,188 0.7% 424,074 94.6% 62 53 G 20 18 G SUNFLOWERS (SEED) 2,554 0.6% 426,628 95.2% 63 61 P 21 21 G POTATOES 2,518 0.6% 429,146 95.7% 64 60 F 22 25 F RYEGRASS 1,863 0.4% 431,009 96.1% 65 G 23 20 G CABBAGE 1,807 0.4% 432,816 96.5% 66 65 G 24 22 G RAPINI 1,661 0.4% 434,477 96.9% 67 G 25 23 P DATES 1,473 0.3% 435,950 97.2% 68 64 G 26 F HEMP 1,450 0.3% 437,400 97.6% 69 66 F 27 28 F GRASS, MIXED 1,234 0.3% 437,184 97.5% 70 F 28 26 G CELERY (ALL) 803 0.2% 437,987 97.7% 71 69 F 29 24 G WATERMELONS 651 0.1% 438,638 97.8% 72 74 F 30 30 P OLIVES 630 0.1% 439,268 98.0% 73 67 P 31 31 G CILANTRO 551 0.1% 439,819 98.1% 74 70 P 32 29 G OKRA 500 0.1% 440,319 98.2% 75 71 P 33 33 P FISH FARMS 485 0.1% 440,804 98.3% 76 72 F 34 34 G MELONS, FALL (ALL) 438 0.1% 441,242 98.4% 77 77 G 35 41 G CORIANDER SEED 408 0.1% 441,650 98.5% 78 75 G 36 35 F SUGARCANE 400 0.1% 442,050 98.6% 79 79 G 37 39 G MUSTARD (ALL) 398 0.1% 442,448 98.7% 80 76 G 38 36 P PALMS 391 0.1% 442,839 98.8% 81 62 F 39 68 F RAPESEED 387 0.1% 443,226 98.9% 82 58 G 40 37 P PASTURE, PERMANENT 345 0.1% 443,571 98.9% 83 78 G 41 43 G KALE 334 0.1% 443,905 99.0% 84 80 G 42 38 G SWEET BASIL 236 0.1% 444,141 99.1% 85 49 G 43 F CORN, SILAGE 221 0.0% 444,362 99.1% 86 57 F * Crop Types: F = Field G = Garden P = Permanent Source: www.iid.com

18 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

CROP DESCRIPTION PARSLEY (ALL) FLOWERS SWISS CHARD (ALL) ARTICHOKE (ALL) JUJUBE SESBANIA COTTON NURSERY ORNAMENTAL TREES SORGHUM SILAGE RED BEETS CABBAGE, CHINESE ROCKETT SPIRULINA ALGAE MANGOS RADISHES SQUASH ALOE VERA HERBS, MIXED ASPARAGUS SORGHUM GRAIN THYME DILL SESAME EGGPLANT SAFFLOWER DUNALIELLA BARLEY QUINOA EUCALYPTUS PECANS FRUIT, MIXED BAMBOO BRUSSELS SPROUTS COLLARDS CUCUMBERS FENNEL FLAX GARBANZO BEANS PARSNIPS PEPPERS, BELL PEPPERS, HOT TRITICALE GRAIN

ACRES 217 204 168 164 153 139 128 126 126 121 114 102 92 85 81 81 74 72 70 39 37 37 30 25 17 13 12 10 10 7 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

% CUMULATIVE CUMULATIVE ACRES % 0.0% 444,358 99.1% 0.0% 444,562 99.2% 0.0% 444,730 99.2% 0.0% 444,894 99.2% 0.0% 445,047 99.3% 0.0% 445,186 99.3% 0.0% 445,312 99.3% 0.0% 445,438 99.3% 0.0% 445,438 99.3% 0.0% 445,559 99.4% 0.0% 445,673 99.4% 0.0% 445,775 99.4% 0.0% 445,867 99.4% 0.0% 445,952 99.5% 0.0% 446,033 99.5% 0.0% 446,114 99.5% 0.0% 446,188 99.5% 0.0% 446,260 99.5% 0.0% 446,330 99.5% 0.0% 446,369 99.6% 0.0% 446,406 99.6% 0.0% 446,443 99.6% 0.0% 446,473 99.6% 0.0% 446,498 99.6% 0.0% 446,515 99.6% 0.0% 446,528 99.6% 0.0% 446,540 99.6% 0.0% 446,550 99.6% 0.0% 446,560 99.6% 0.0% 446,567 99.6% 0.0% 446,571 99.6% 0.0% 446,573 99.6% 0.0% 446,573 99.6% 0.0% 446,573 99.6% 0.0% 446,573 99.6% 0.0% 446,573 99.6% 0.0% 446,573 99.6% 0.0% 446,573 99.6% 0.0% 446,573 99.6% 0.0% 446,573 99.6% 0.0% 446,573 99.6% 0.0% 446,573 99.6% 0.0% 446,573 99.6%

Total Acres of Crops 448,372

IMPERIAL IRRIGATION DISTRICT

Protecting the valley’s water rights and energy balancing authority while maintaining affordable rates and providing the highest level of customer service.

IID A century of service.

VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 19

VEGETABLES & MELONS PRODUCTION

CROP BROCCOLI (MARKET) CABBAGE (MARKET)

YEAR

HARVESTED ACRES

YIELD PER ACRE

TOTAL UNITS

UNIT

VALUE PER UNIT

GROSS VALUE

2019 2018 2019 2018

11,957 13,726 1,922 2,044

451.73 460.22 802.65 777.25

5,401,345 6,316,932 1,542,700 1,588,700

26 LBS 26 LBS 45 LBS 45 LBS

$19.54 $15.99 $8.76 $13.71

$105,521,000 $100,982,000 $13,507,000 $21,777,000

2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018

4,298 4,764 10,029 11,117 14,327 15,881 4,815 5,091

825.75 932.29 35.51 26.41

3,549,156 4,441,707 356,118 293,541

50 LBS 50 LBS TON TON

$5.84 $3.15 $126.52 $161.20

687.05 645.00

3,308,167 3,283,695

23 LBS 23 LBS

$11.31 $12.12

$20,740,000 $13,977,000 $45,058,000 $47,319,000 $65,798,000 $61,296,000 $37,411,000 $39,794,000

549.31 404.21 * 9,354.00

1,984,064 2,274,594 4,960,161 5,686,485 3,968,129 4,549,188 10,912,354 12,510,266 7,726,531 5,639,991 * 28,027,390

50 LBS 50 LBS 40 LBS 40 LBS 50 LBS 50 LBS CTN CTN 35 LBS 35 LBS * LBS

$9.56 $9.27 $9.28 $9.13 $9.56 $9.27 $9.44 $9.21 $14.17 $21.74 * $0.58

$18,976,000 $21,076,000 $46,041,000 $51,934,000 $37,953,000 $42,152,000 $102,970,000 $115,162,000 $109,502,000 $122,627,000 * $16,256,000

1,401.50 2,377.35 21.03 19.51

4,357,263 11,192,554 182,869 153,161

50 LBS 50 LBS TON TON

$4.16 $6.60 $148.40 $161.98

$18,119,000 $73,834,000 $27,138,000 $24,810,000 $45,257,000 $98,644,000

CARROTS MARKET PROCESSING & OTHERS TOTAL CARROTS CAULIFLOWER (MARKET) HEAD LETTUCE NAKED PACK WRAP PACK BULK TOTAL HEAD LETTUCE LEAF LETTUCE SPRING MIX 1/

2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018

13,663 16,241 14,066 13,953 * 2,996

2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018

3,109 4,708 8,694 7,852 11,803 12,560

ONIONS MARKET PROCESSING TOTAL ONIONS

- Photo By Charla Teeters-Stewart

20 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

VEGETABLES & MELONS PRODUCTION

CROP

YEAR

HARVESTED ACRES

YIELD PER ACRE

TOTAL UNITS

UNIT

VALUE PER UNIT

GROSS VALUE

POTATOES

2019 2018

2,518 2,087

183.33 250.95

461,633 523,733

CWT CWT

$26.30 $34.93

$12,139,000 $18,294,000

SPINACH

2019 2018

8,128 8,585

13,173.67 11,431.54

107,075,563 98,139,768

LBS LBS

$0.54 $0.86

$57,928,000 $84,291,000

SWEET CORN

2019 2018

8,246 8,569

344.71 358.00

2,842,514 3,067,702

50 LBS 50 LBS

$11.58 $13.22

$32,908,000 $40,540,000

ROMAINE LETTUCE

2019 2018

8,050 7,787

994.83 750.75

8,008,370 5,846,099

35 LBS 35 LBS

$7.53 $9.47

$60,307,000 $55,371,000

MISC. VEGETABLES

2019 2018

14,657 16,098

CANTALOUPES

2019 2018

4,224 4,330

717.00 635.09

3,028,608 2,749,956

40 LBS 40 LBS

$7.04 $8.90

$21,334,000 $24,481,000

HONEYDEW & MISC. MELONS

2019 2018

1,398 1,241

620.29 692.13

867,159 858,927

40 LBS 40 LBS

$9.70 $11.95

$8,411,000 $10,261,000

WATERMELONS

2019 2018

641 1,415

31.06 31.92

19,911 45,170

TON TON

$352.38 $398.68

$7,016,000 $18,008,000

ACRES

120,415

VALUE

$799,424,000

ACRES

132,604

VALUE

$984,472,000

TOTAL 2019 TOTAL 2018

$119,415,000 $156,688,000

Misc. Vegetables may include: Artichoke, Arugula, Asparagus, Beets, Bok Choy, Celery, Cilantro, Collard, Dill, Gai Lon, Herbs, Kale, Mint, Mizuna, Mustard, Napa Cabbage, Okra, Parsley, Radish, Rapini, Squash, Sweet Basil, Swiss Chard, Thyme.

1/* 2019 Spring Mix is now included in Misc. Vegetables.

VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 21

Farm Smart educator Stephanie Collins listens during a virtual tour of the Valley’s agricultural industry.

Grower Jack Vessey participates in a virtual tour.

Doc’s Organics was one of the virtual tours

by Farm Smart. - Photos By Farm Smart

Farm Smart Going virtual ups the game

By Peggy Dale

T

he pandemic was in full swing when Farm Smart educators Stephanie Collins and Stacey Amparano began planning for the 2020-2021 season at the Desert Research and Extension Center (DREC) near Holtville.

Because of restrictions the pandemic has placed on in-person activities throughout the county and much of the state, this dynamic duo instead devoted their energies toward developing virtual tours and other activities.

“When the shutdown started nearly a year ago, we were right in the middle of vegetable classes booked through May,” Amparano said. “Soon after, we tried to up our game, improve social media outreach and through newsletters.”

“We pride ourselves about being hands on, to show agriculture in action,” she continued. “We had to think, how will we still provide that outreach, instill

22 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

excitement? We want to provide activities parents can do with their children, lessons for parents and teachers to allow at-home field trips where students can learn about ag and where food comes from.”

Virtual tours were one of the results of that brainstorming, connecting students, teachers and any other interested visitors with agricultural folks throughout Imperial County.

The initial tour on Oct. 2 began like many of those in years past: an introduction to the work done at the Desert Research and Extension Center and a ride on a tractor-pulled wagon down the dirt roads surrounding fields of forage and vegetable crops and past the livestock pens and orchards. Only instead of being loaded with schoolchildren or winter visitors, the wagon carried cameras, which delivered live feeds of the tour to those logged into the video feed from home.

Since then, tours have expanded to the farms, feedlots and processing facilities

throughout Imperial County, giving students access otherwise not available to them.

These virtual tours have opened doors in some unexpected ways. As a fifth-grade teacher in the Imperial Unified School District, Amy Brinnon until this year hadn’t been able to participate in Farm Smart as district children typically are exposed to the program as first- or second-graders. When she learned about the virtual tours, she realized they tie into the financial literacy and economics curriculum she teaches her 32 Cross Elementary School students.

“I tied (the virtual tours) in with the economy of the Imperial Valley,” she said. Many of her students’ parents work in agriculture. “The students made the connection to their own livelihood and how it fits in our economy,” she said. The class would go on five tours: feedlots, dairy, burrowing owls, pumpkin patch and grocery.

They were so captivated after touring a

feedlot in the first “outing” that, even though class was over for the day, they logged back in to talk with Brinnon about what they’d seen. “None of them knew there was a difference between beef and dairy cattle. That day they kept calling them cows and the guy kept correcting them, ‘these are steers,’” Brinnon said.

Bethany Griffith, who teaches fifth grade at Meadows Union Elementary School, was excited to learn of the virtual tours, which she learned about from her daughter, one of Brinnon’s students.

Making it even more memorable is experiencing the tours with her students in one room of her home while her daughter participates with Brinnon’s class in another.

Griffith said Meadows regularly sends students to Farm Smart tours, but not once did they reach fifth grade so she has been taking advantage of another Farm Smart program, the Garden-toGo Kit, provided with the help of CalFresh. Students are provided the materials and directions for the kits and encouraged to journal and photograph the growing and harvesting journey.

Guiding them through their gardening experience is Rigoberto Ponce, Community Specialist II-CalFresh for the University of California Cooperative Extension Service, who visits Griffith’s class every Thursday via Zoom.

“He has worked with them on different activities with health living – eating and staying active,” Griffith said. “Every week they show him their garden. The kids have been excited and send him pictures.”

Face time with students has been important, Collins said.

Amparano added that the virtual tours give opportunities to ask questions directly to farmers.

“It makes a nice connection between students and the farmer,” Amparano said. “Farmers have appreciated being able to tell their story, to give a field trip to the students to show what they do, the safety measure they take to provide a fresh, safe product. A lot of kids didn’t realize this is where we get our food, our clothing.”

“It’s a nice connection to someone who is in our community, in our town, who is growing food,” Collins added.

Despite a year unlike any other experienced in recent history, the staff at Farm Smart, the educational arm of the Desert Research and Extension Center, has taken the pandemic in stride, finding ways to continue work that began 20 years ago this year.

The Farm Smart website (http://drec.ucanr.edu/Farm_Smart)

Ava Campos displays her winnings as one of Farm Smart’s Read with a Farmer.

- Photos By Farm Smart advises that all in-person programs have been canceled until further notice but notes that “2020 has presented many opportunities to reimagine and improve ourselves, our communities and how we deliver our programs. We aim to connect Imperial Valley youth to agriculture and natural resources and provide educators with lessons and activities that they can incorporate into their curriculum that helps students explore where our food comes from.” n

VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 23

In Memory Farmers left their mark on the Valley

By Kay Day Pricola

W

hile most of us will remember the year 2020 for the pandemic, the loss of four distinguished farmers must be noted. All four followed in their parents’ footsteps to continue a legacy in the Imperial Valley agricultural community.

Larry Gilbert was the son of Ralph and Bertha Gilbert, who were early residents of the Imperial Valley.

Upon completion of a degree in agronomy from Cal Poly-Pomona, Larry returned to the Larry Gilbert Valley and remained active in farming, primarily grain crops, for 55 years. Gilbert was a founding member of IID’s Water Conservation Advisory Board and served more than 40 years. At the same time he was an Imperial County Farm Bureau board member. Like his father, he served on the Imperial Unified School District board for eight years. He served on the California Wheat Commission for 20 years and was a member of the Imperial Grain Growers Board for more than 40 years. In 2001, Gilbert was presented with the California Farm Bureau Distinguished Service award, and in 2009 he was named the Imperial County Farm Bureau’s Jim Kuhn Memorial Farmer of the Year.

“While my siblings and children have not continued to farm the land owned by my parents, we have ensured the most beneficial use of the land with a long-term lease to another Imperial Valley farmer and his family,” stated Gilbert’s daughter, Candice Nelson. “This ensures my father’s love of agriculture is continued,” she said.

Al Kalin was the son of Albert Kalin and Louise Kennedy Kalin Wiley, early Imperial Valley residents. His father came to the Imperial Valley in 1915 and started the first two cattle feedlots, Verde Land & Cattle Co. and San Pasqual Land &

24 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

Cattle Co. He was a founding member of the historic Planter’s Hotel, built in 1927.

In 1951 Albert passed away, leaving Louise to manage the feedlots, the 3,000-acre farm, and the Planter’s Hotel as a single mother with Al Kalin two young children.

She succeeded in instilling a love of Imperial Valley land in her older son, Al. Al Kalin and his younger brother, Carson, started Kalin Farms while both were teenagers. Carson continues to manage Kalin Farms today. Al earned a degree in Farm Management from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and also completed advanced studies in Crop Science, Soil Science, Agricultural Engineering, and Game Bird Management. His love of hunting and fishing led him to start a fishing lure manufacturing company, and Kalin Lures are still sold today. Kalin also pioneered the use of a declassified colorintra-red film used in aerial photography to spot soil and crop issues in agricultural fields.

Kalin also dedicated time to serve his community to include Westmorland Community 4-H, Westmorland Union Elementary School District, and Imperial County Farm Bureau.

As a farmer, environmentalist, and foremost expert on the Salton Sea, he served on countless advisory committees for the Imperial Irrigation District, the State Department of Water Resources, University of California Desert Research and Extension Center, Desert Wildlife Unlimited, Salton Sea Bird Festival, New River Task Force, and more, tackling issues such as water conservation, restoration of the Salton Sea, water quality, and others.

He served on the IID Water Conservation Advisory Board, the Salton Sea 10-Year Plan Committee, and the Salton Sea Long Range Plan Committee.

Kalin was the recipient of several prestigious awards including the 2004 Governor’s Environmental & Economic Leadership Award, the 2006

Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Award for Outstanding, and in 2013 he was named Farmer of the Year by the Imperial County Farm Bureau.

Kalin was also a storyteller. He wrote a weekly column in the Imperial Valley Press called Outdoor Tales, in which he shared enlightening and humorous stories about his life in the Imperial Valley.

“Al Kalin treasured his family and friends and respected all living creatures and nature,” commented Linsey Dale, former Executive Director of Imperial County Farm Bureau. “Everything he did for people was all to make their lives and surroundings better. His knowledge and accomplishments in agriculture, irrigation, and the environment have enriched Imperial Valley in ways that most people will never know.”

Ben Abatti was the son of Italian immigrants, Antonia Scalvini and Battista Ben Abatti Abatti, who were early dairy farmers in Heber. As a teenager, he worked on the LaBrucherie and Vessey farms. With his brother, he founded Ben & Tony Abatti Farms. They developed a diversified crop production list to include mixed melons, onions, honeydew, and asparagus. In 1967, Ben and Tony formed Abatti Produce, Inc., at one point farming more than 24,000 acres and employing 7,000 people. Abatti was a founding member of the Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association, served as treasurer of the Imperial Valley Sugar Beet Growers Association, and served on the Board of Western Growers Association. In 2016, he was selected as Farmer of the Year by the Imperial County Farm Bureau and presented with the National Philanthropy Lifetime Achievement Award by the Imperial Valley Community Foundation.

Abatti was a trailblazer in using technology in his farming operation. He was the first grower to plant trial seedless watermelons, the first to transition from packing cantaloupes in wooden crates to

cartons, and the first in the Imperial Valley to use the 1-ton baler. Like most Italian fathers, Abatti considered his family to be his greatest accomplishment. All five of his children have continued the Abatti farming tradition in the Imperial Valley.

Abatti contributed to countywide youth programs including 4-H, FFA, high school and youth sports. He organized the first 4-H BBQ in Imperial Valley in 1976 and began a tradition of helping a wide variety of organizations raise funds by serving his famous deep pit barbecue.

“The legacy of Ben Abatti is rooted in his strong Catholic Christian faith and his belief that if you treat people with honesty and respect it will pay dividends throughout a lifetime. Ben came from humble beginnings and with hard work and perseverance overcame many obstacles while building a large and successful farming operation. Unafraid of the unknown and never dwelling on the past, “ stated family and business friends Jeff and Bill Ploud. “His word was ‘gold’, his fun-loving demeanor contagious, and his passion for life unwavering. His legacy will be carried through his children and grandchildren, farming in the Imperial Valley today.”

Neal Jack was the son of Imperial Valley pioneers Carol and Earl Jack.

Like several others of his generation, Jack was an agricultural industry icon and a pioneering innovator in the Imperial Valley.

Neal Jack He was a founding member of Western Growers Association, and a leading force behind Jack Brothers.

Jack served his country in World War II in Europe and the Korea War in Alaska. Upon returning to the Imperial Valley, Jack led Jack Bros. for nearly four decades. He invested virtually every dollar earned during his tenure into improving the ground. Using some of the innovation from his military service, he radically modernized farming to the family business. One of these was the use of car-to-car radios. He tried wheel line sprinklers and a few years later was among the first to use buried drip irrigation. Jack Bros. still uses drip irrigation as one of its water conservation methods. Jack was an early advocate for water conservation and served on numerous influential boards,

including the Imperial Irrigation Board from 1973-1981, the California State Water Resources Control Board, and the USDA Board at the Agriculture Research Station in Brawley. Additionally, he played a significant role on the Western Growers Board of Directors as well as steered irrigation priorities as an active member on the Water Committee. Jack also developed the Green Globe Artichoke seed still used by Ocean Mist during winter production. The Imperial County Farm Bureau selected Jack as the Farmer of the Year in 2011.

Jack’s college roommate at the University of California-Davis, Andy D’Arrigo, stated, “Our lifelong friendship started over 70 years ago and his death will not change that. Our families will continue to do business and maintain a family friendship based on the sound business ethic that we both learned from our parents and passed on to our families.”

These four farmers left a legacy in our community and in agriculture that will be difficult to exceed.

Footnote: We also acknowledge the death of John Penn Carter, outside legal counsel to IID for years, as well the recent loss of former IID General Manager Kevin Kelley. n

VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 25

FRUIT & NUTS PRODUCTION

CROP DATES GRAPEFRUIT LEMONS TANGELOS TANGERINES MISC. CITRUS, FRUIT & NUT CROPS CITRUS BY-PRODUCTS

TOTAL 2019 TOTAL 2018

YEAR

HARVESTED ACRES

2019

2,556

2018

2,825

2019

638

2018

YIELD PER ACRE

TOTAL UNITS

UNIT

VALUE PER UNIT

GROSS VALUE

3.59

9,175

TON

$2,471.23

$22,674,000

3.30

9,321

TON

$2,598.83

$24,224,000

15.66

9,992

TON

$466.50

$4,661,000

692

12.08

8,362

TON

$486.93

$4,072,000

2019

4,126

11.68

48,171

TON

$757.01

$36,466,000

2018

4,612

12.66

58,383

TON

$749.27

$43,745,000

2019

633

6.11

3,870

TON

$458.97

$1,776,000

2018

532

4.76

2,532

TON

$553.83

$1,402,000

2019

578

11.51

6,651

TON

$453.33

$3,015,000

2018

570

7.50

4,275

TON

$754.67

$3,226,000

2019

1,075

2018

1,097

$5,825,000 $6,335,000

2019

$1,219,000

2018

$905,000

ACRES ACRES

26 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

9,606 10,328

VALUE VALUE

$75,636,000 $83,909,000

Grading Show

By Bill Gay

N

early 230 youngsters from around the Imperial Valley got their time in a show ring at the end of February in a market animal grading show that substituted for the California Mid-Winter Fair’s junior livestock show in this COVID 19-impacted year.

Participants included members of Valley FFA, 4-H and Grange as well as independent exhibitors.

Animals that were allowed to show were steers, feeder calves, swine, goats, and market lambs. While this year’s fair has been canceled due to the pandemic, the grading show was allowed because the California Department of Food and Agriculture has determined that market animals are essential to the food chain.

However, there were strict limits, and there was no auction or showmanship competition. The show’s rules limited the number of people who could be on the grounds to those directly involved in the exhibition, which could number no more than 100 people at any one time.

The show also was “terminal,” which means no participating animal could be taken home or sold to any buyer other than a designated meat processor. The project animals were transported to the processors immediately after the day’s exhibition was completed. Youngsters received the market price for their animals, although the fair will be holding an on-line add-on process that will allow the community to contribute to the exhibitor projects.

Judging the exhibitions was Brad Mendes, an animal sciences lecturer at Fresno State University and a member of the university’s livestock judging team.

And in a first for the livestock events, the show was live streamed over the fair’s website.

“All in all, the show went very well,” said Alan Phillips, fair Chief Executive Officer. “While we obviously would have rather had our traditional fair and livestock events, we did learn a lot from this grading show. And most importantly, our local youth exhibitors had an opportunity to present their livestock projects before a judge.

Youngers from 4-H and FFA show their swine to judge Brad Montes.

- Photo by Bill Gay

VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 27

CONSERVATION... CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 regulations include a tiered payment system that incentivizes certain more expensive efficiency conservation methods that growers use at a higher rate than others in the program. This tiered approach, in part, is expected to help scale back the program and avoid deficit spending without putting a hard limit on grower participation.

Tier A conservation includes drip systems, tailwater return systems, sprinkler and other capital-intensive systems. Tier A payments are capped at $289.68 per acre-

foot of water conserved but will vary based on the overall program conservation yield.

Tier B conservation methods include field reconfiguration and land leveling and will be paid at 50 percent of the Tier A rate, however that rate could increase depending on the volume of conservation generated in Tier A and the overall program conservation yield from perennials and crops harvested in 2021.

“We’ve had to make some tough decisions and changes along the way,” Shields said, adding that the district thanks growers for

their patience and participation.

While Imperial Valley farmers grow more than 70 different types of crops in an average year and maintain the region’s rank as one of the top 10 agricultural producing counties in California, these growers have not shied away from the OFECP. The OFECP, even with its new rules, gives the growers who feed the nation the opportunity to improve their crop water use efficiencies and generate conservation - using funding provided by IID and its water transfer partners. n

A local tailwater recovery system, this one powered by a tractor, supplies energy to the pump. - Photos provided by IID

Drip irrigation provides water to this Imperial Valley melon crop as part of the on-farm efficiency conservation program.

28 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

A sprinkler system irrigates this carrot field east of Holtville, utilizing the most popular efficiency conservation measure being implemented on Imperial Valley farms. Photos courtesy of IID.

FOOD SAFETY... CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 others in the Imperial Valley who might not otherwise have easy access to testing. The bus has the capacity to test more than 500 people daily.

“When I heard about this, I just got on board real quick,” Snow said. “It was a super idea to take the testing to the farms.”

Once the testing bus arrived in December, the county, agriculture and communitybased organizations came together to determine a weekly schedule and select sites for the mobile testing.

“We were trying to find locations where we could place the bus and reach out to the farming community to make sure they could take advantage of it,” said Jeff Lamoure, deputy director of the county Public Health Department, who has spearheaded the initiative.

Initially the bus was deployed to the Imperial Valley Expo in December, and the next site was Phillips Cattle, where a onetime testing event was held that month.

After that, GloriAnn Farms in Brawley became a regular stop for mobile testing on Tuesdays (and the weekly testing continues there). The Comite Civico Del Valle facility in Brawley has also been a weekly testing site on Wednesdays, and Lamoure said that has been critical as Comite Civico has done extensive outreach to farm workers with

visas that allow them to live and work in the Valley.

Additional sites for the bus were chosen in Calexico at the One Stop Center and El Centro at the city library parking lot, both selected as being readily accessible to farm workers and other residents who might have difficulty getting to other testing centers. More recently, the bus has also been deployed to Stark Field in El Centro.

The effort to get mobile testing to other sites is ongoing.

“It’s been very important for our communities as a whole,” Lamoure said.

At GloriAnn Farms, having the mobile Farm workers pack cabbage.

- Photo by Charla Teeters-Stewart testing weekly at the operation’s processing facility has been critical as an added layer to ensure both worker and food safety, with hand-washing stations and hand said Cameron Tate, food safety director for sanitizers strategically placed. Considering Joe and Bill Colace, co-owners of GloriAnn COVID, there was additional training related Farms. They also own Five Crown Marketing to hand-washing. Additionally, crews and Crown Citrus. worked on split shifts and there were plastic “We were already taking all the shields placed in the facility as buffers precautions possible to make sure food between workers. Tate said GloriAnn also was safe before COVID-19,” Tate said. “Then built an outdoor break facility to ensure when COVID came into place, we expanded distance was kept between workers. what we were already doing. We kind of “If you are keeping your people who modified our safety training to include handle the food safe, then you are keeping COVID.” the food safe,” Tate said.

The processing plant, Tate said, already is CONTINUED ON PAGE 32 a sterile environment to ensure food safety

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VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 29

SEED & NURSERY PRODUCTS PRODUCTION

CROP

YEAR

HARVESTED ACRES

YIELD PER ACRE

TOTAL UNITS

UNIT

VALUE PER UNIT

GROSS VALUE

2019

11,102

733.18

8,139,474

LBS

$2.20

$17,907,000

2018

10,665

670.17

7,147,328

LBS

$2.20

$15,724,000

2019

15,358

713.10

10,952,081

LBS

$2.81

$30,815,000

2018

25,937

625.60

16,226,187

LBS

$3.25

$52,735,000

2019

26,460

721.53

19,091,555

LBS

$2.55

$48,722,000

2018

36,602

638.59

23,373,515

LBS

$2.93

$68,459,000

2019

5,025

376.46

1,891,719

LBS

$3.82

$7,231,000

2018

4,366

400.78

1,749,796

LBS

$4.93

$8,623,000

2019

5,253

321.63

1,689,540

LBS

$4.96

$8,380,000

2018

4,520

351.33

1,588,027

LBS

$6.00

$9,528,000

2019

10,278

349.05

3,581,259

LBS

$4.36

$15,611,000

2018

8,886

375.63

3,337,822

LBS

$5.44

$18,151,000

ALFALFA SEED NON-CERTIFIED CERTIFIED TOTAL ALFALFA SEED BERMUDA GRASS SEED NON-CERTIFIED CERTIFIED TOTAL BERMUDA GRASS SEED

- Photo By Peggy Dale

30 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

SEED & NURSERY PRODUCTS PRODUCTION

CROP ONION SEED

YEAR

HARVESTED ACRES

YIELD PER ACRE

TOTAL UNITS

UNIT

VALUE PER UNIT

GROSS VALUE

2019

746

462.00

344,652

LBS

$5.00

$1,723,000

2018

883

331.56

292,765

LBS

$7.22

$2,115,000

2019

12,119

$33,442,000

2018

2,392

$4,876,000

2019

3,162

$6,839,000

2018

3,504

$7,634,000

2019

639

$7,353,000

2018

764

$7,975,000

ACRES ACRES

53,404 53,031

MISC. SEED & NURSERY MISC. NON-CERTIFIED SEED

MISC. CERTIFIED SEED

MISC. NURSERY PRODUCTS

TOTAL 2019 TOTAL 2018

VALUE VALUE

$113,690,000 $109,210,000

Misc. Seed and Nursery Products may include: Aloe Vera, Broccoli Seed, Carrot Seed, Cauliflower Seed, Celery Seed, Chinese Cabbage Seed, Chrysanthemum Seed, Coriander Seed, Cut Flowers, Lettuce Seed, Mizuna Seed, Nursery Plants, Palm Trees, Radish Seed, Rapeseed, Ryegrass Seed, Sudan Seed, Sunflower Seed, Vegetable Transplants, Watermelon Seed, Wheat Seed.

VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 31

FOOD SAFETY... CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29 At Phillips Cattle, similar safety measures were taken to protect the workers and keep the cattle yard safely in operation.

“Very early in this, we made mask-wearing mandatory,” Snow said.

He added the ranch implemented weekly COVID-19 safety training, social distancing, alternated lunch breaks and emphasized that workers be tested extensively.

With a focus on testing, he said, it made sense to get involved when the county obtained the testing bus, and with both COLAB and the Farm Bureau involved, it became possible to do extensive outreach throughout the agricultural community.

Shelby Dill, executive director of COLAB and the Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association, said her role has been to carry out outreach to her members to ensure they are aware of the testing sites and times.

“We are trying to protect our farm workers,” she said.

Not only have COLAB, the county and others been actively engaged in helping to organize the mobile testing, but they’ve also been working to make vaccines available to farm workers given their crucial role in bringing food to the nation.

In late February, the county announced that it was moving into Tier One vaccination

32 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

eligibility, which includes farm workers. The county also reported that 1,000 vaccines have been set aside for farm workers, and the vaccinations began toward the end of February.

Dill said the effort to secure more vaccines for farm workers was ongoing.

In the meantime, efforts continue to make sure agricultural workers stay as safe as possible.

Dill credited the Imperial County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office for its ongoing efforts to keep agricultural workers safe throughout the pandemic.

During an Imperial County Board of Supervisors meeting in February, Agricultural Commissioner Carlos Ortiz reported the astonishing numbers of personal protective equipment his department has distributed, including nearly 1.6 million surgical masks, 42,000 specialized N95 masks, 20,000 pairs of gloves, nearly 75,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and 500 cloth masks. And the effort hasn’t ended.

“We all know that ag is essential for our well-being,” Ortiz said, explaining the need to provide support during the pandemic.

“It produces the food we consume, and it doesn’t get more important than that.

We need the workforce, and I value the work of the industry, starting with the field workers.”

Distribution of the safety gear was a challenge, he said, but through the outreach of the farming organizations, the growers, labor contractors and community groups, it was possible to reach the farm workers. The effort included not only a way for growers to pick up the masks and other items, like the hand sanitizers, but it also included going out to the fields to distribute directly to workers in the field.

“It was important not only to protect the workers, but in protecting them, we also were trying to protect their families,” Ortiz said.

Dill said of the county’s efforts, “Farm worker safety is a top priority, and the county played a vital part in keeping our labor and their loved ones healthy. Our farm workers are essential workers, and the county was able to help keep a constant supply of food on the table, even in the midst of a pandemic.”

Dill added of her members and all growers in the Valley, “They are doing everything in their power to prevent the spread of the pandemic. They’ve taken this pandemic serious from the very start.” n

KELLEY... CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 through issues with us.”

Kelley served as IID’s general manager from January 2011 to January 2019. After a long career trajectory as a journalist/writer and sometime political consultant, he joined the district as a community relations representative in 2006.

A year later, he would be elevated to the position of assistant to the general manager under Chief Operating Officer Michael Campbell.

Then, and later, when he assumed the mantle of GM, Kelley faced criticism over how a former journalist and public relations person could have been hired to such positions. Yet it was well-known among many in the community that Kelley was an expert in water, both the history and the legal rights surrounding it.

Even as publisher of Valley Grower magazine, and later, as opinion section editor of the Imperial Valley Press, Kelley knew both the voluminous Quantification Settlement Agreement signed by the seven lower basin states that draw off the Colorado River, and the water transfer agreement between IID and San Diego County Water Authority, like the back of his hand.

Generally, many of Kelley’s friends and acquaintances knew him as a man of varied interests, great intelligence, and immense talents.

Then-IID General Manager Kevin Kelley talks to a news team during a tour of the Colorado River.

- Photo provided by IID “I think of it like a huge library has burned down. He was a font of knowledge, a scholar when it came to history, an accomplished historian, a sociologist, and certainly a literary authority,” said Sierra Galindo, who is a Calexico High School teacher in her professional life.

“There wasn’t anything he had not read. He was the only person I know who had read the

classics (works of English-language literature).

“His knowledge was transcendent, and transcended borders,” she added, referring to his expansive grasp on how water came to the Imperial Valley.

Sierra Galindo said he was not just well-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

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VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 33

KELLEY... CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33 versed on the historical perspective of water and water rights in the Imperial Valley and the greater United States, but in Mexico as well.

Kelley was nearly finished with a book he was writing on water in the Valley, from historical, sociological, and political perspectives. Kelley recently said that he didn’t have a publisher yet, but was thinking of an academic imprint, possibly through his alma mater, the University of Southern California, from which he graduated with a communications degree in 1984.

Yet he was careful to say his book would not be stuffy, like most academically published works.

Over the years, Kelley had been a man of many trades, serving as executive director of the El Centro Chamber of Commerce, two stints with the Imperial Valley Press, and as publisher and mostly uncredited author of the magazine Valley Grower, known for its lush prose. Kelley also helped friends on political campaigns early in his career.

Former Imperial Valley Press Editor and current columnist, screenwriter, and college lecturer Bret Kofford counted Kelley as one of his closest friends. It was alongside Kofford that Kelley returned to the Press as opinion editor in the early 2000s, the last job Kelley held before leaving for the district.

“Those of us who knew Kevin well knew that while he ran the IID for a number of years, at heart he was an artist: a tremendously talented improvisational pianist and a gifted writer. He and I most often talked about music and writing, even though we were caught up in the political world of the Valley through our previous jobs,” Kofford wrote in an online message.

It was the artistic side that could be most surprising for people who did not know Kelley well, or only as the erudite, slim figure seemingly born in a blazer.

Plain and simple, Kevin Kelley was a monster musician, a “true jazz head,” as one longtime friend put it.

Like jazz great and saxophonist Stan Getz said, “There are four qualities essential to a great jazzman: They are taste, courage, individuality, and irreverence,” and Kelley embodied them all.

Elizabeth Varin contributed reporting to this story.

Editor Richard Montenegro Brown, who wrote this piece, worked with Kelley for several years at the Imperial Valley Press, where Kelley edited Brown’s weekly opinion column and other writing.

(Read the original article online at https://calexicochronicle. com/2021/01/featured-stories/kevin-kelley-former-iid-gm-dies-at-61) n

34 VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST

VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS & DESERT GROWING DIGEST 35

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