CalCAN staff recently spent some time visiting farmers in the Imperial Valley, which produces approximately two-thirds of the nation’s vegetable consumption during the winter months and ranks 9th in the state in terms of value of agricultural production by county. Here, crop choice is driven by climate, geography, and economics.
Water in the Imperial Valley comes from the Colorado River through a system of canals that checkerboard the fields. Fields are leveled and slightly graded so that gravity delivers the water along furrows through flood or surface irrigation. Water is “ordered” from the irrigation district, and the smallest delivery is 12 hours of continuous flow. Additionally, labor is more expensive in California than in neighboring Arizona and Mexico, which leads the Imperial Valley to focus on producing mainly low-labor, high-water forage crops.
Craig Elmore: Leading Change on Desert Ranch
The first farmer we met with was Craig Elmore, who grows a variety of vegetables and melons. When Craig greets us in his office, he shows us a satellite photo of Desert Ranch in 2003. He points to a small corner of cropland touching the Salton Sea. “Remember that,” he tells us.

Craig takes us on a ride through hundreds of acres planted in carrots and romaine hearts to that corner – the lowest farmed elevation in the Imperial Valley. As we drive along an elevated road that once served as a levee, Craig’s son Stephen points to the sand on the other side of the road. “The Salton Sea came right up here when I was a kid.” Stephen is in his early forties. A dead tree sticks out of the sand, barnacles still clinging 3 feet up the trunk. The retreating man-made sea leaves behind “playa dust;” a sediment high in salt, heavy metals, fertilizer, and pesticide compounds. Strong winds whip the toxic dust across the landscape damaging crops in its path. The Elmores have been vegetating and creating windbreaks in the playa adjacent to the property for decades in an effort to mitigate the effects of the dust.

“We must change the way we’re doing things,” Craig Elmore says adamantly. Persistent drought worsened by climate change and sprawling urban development in the southwest has intensified longstanding competition over water flows in the Colorado River. To reduce his water use, Craig has shifted from forage crops like alfalfa to vegetables and transitioned to lower water-use irrigation methods such as sprinkler and drip irrigation. Converting from furrow to drip irrigation systems has been shown to reduce nitrous oxide emissions, a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Craig is also building a reservoir on his property thanks to funding from the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) which will allow him to irrigate more precisely, drawing only as much water as he needs and avoiding the inefficiencies associated with the 12-hour deliveries from the irrigation district.

Innovations at Leimgruber Farms
For the next stop of the tour, we meet up with Andrew Leimgruber just outside of Holtville, who grows alfalfa and vegetables, and newly elected Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez, who represents the Imperial Valley and serves on the Agriculture and Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committees in the legislature. Andrew, his father Ronnie, and their team are constantly innovating. “We have to produce more with less,” Andrew says. He shows us an overhead linear sprinkler that was partially funded by a SWEEP grant. The new system has decreased their water use by 25-30% while increasing their yields. Andrew expects their upfront investment in the new system and infrastructure to support it will be paid back within five to six years. “When we got our first linear system, everyone drove by and thought we were crazy. Now we have six so they know something must be working,” he laughs.

The Leimgrubers have also received Healthy Soils Program grants to apply compost. Andrew was such a fan, he bought his own compost spreader. “The Healthy Soils Program is perfect for us in the Imperial Valley – we have sandy soil that’s low in soil organic matter and cattle operations [to produce compost]. It’s too bad that the last grant cycle wasn’t funded – there’s a lot of demand in the Imperial Valley.” The production, transport, and application of compost creates jobs in a county with poverty and unemployment rates that hover around 20% and an average per capita income just over $21,000. “I’ve seen entire local businesses jumpstart from the Healthy Soils Program grants,” says Andrew.

Cutting-Edge Irrigation Technology: A Desert Pilot Program

For our final stop on the tour, we drive to the southeasternmost corner of the valley to meet with Peter Moller, a representative with the Australian irrigation company Rubicon Water. We meet at some alfalfa fields farmed by the Leimgruber family less than a mile from the Mexico-US border. Peter shows us an automated irrigation system that reduces both labor and water use. This technology is part of a SWEEP desert pilot being trialed on seven farms in the surrounding area. While most flood gates coming off of the irrigation district canal are opened manually, these gates are automated and can be programmed in conjunction with real-time environmental data and projections including evapotranspiration and soil moisture. Because Australia is no stranger to drought, Peter says this technology has been used there for over 20 years. Many water districts can even predict demand based on real on-farm data showing how “thirsty” the plants are and how much water they need.
Collaborating for a Resilient Future
We ended the tour with a discussion about how farmers, researchers, advocates, and legislators like Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez can work together to continue supporting farmers in experimenting with and adopting innovative systems that improve environmental and economic outcomes in a region on the frontlines of climate impacts. Excitingly, Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez committed to advocating for future funding for the programs we discussed and to sharing the stories he heard with his fellow legislators in Sacramento.
Acknowledgments
We want to thank Craig Elmore, Andrew and Ronnie Leimgruber, Dr. Aliasghar Montazar (UCCE), and Peter Moller for sharing their valuable time and knowledge with us on the tour. We also want to thank Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez and his staff for joining us on the tour to learn and discuss ways we can work together in Sacramento to continue innovation for the region and across the state.
