The Coachella Valley is a large valley landform in Southern California. The valley extends for approximately 45 miles in Riverside County southeast from the San Bernardino Mountains to the saltwater Salton Sea.. The Coachella Valley is the primary date-growing region in the United States responsible for nearly 95 percent of the nation’s crop and is celebrated each year in Indio during the Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival. The earliest attempt at growing dates came about in 1890 when the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) imported date palm shoots from Iraq and Egypt.
Today, the Coachella Valley grows nearly all the date groves are in the “East Valley” area south of Indio, near Coachella and east of La Quinta. Other agricultural products cultivated in the Coachella valley include fruits and vegetables, especially table grapes, citrus fruits such as lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruits; onions and leeks; and peppers.

The Coachella Valley floor served to grow bounties of alfalfa, artichokes, avocados, beans, beets, cabbage, carrots, corn, cotton, cucumbers, dandelions (salad greens), eggplant, figs, grains (i.e. barley, oats, rye and wheat plus rice fields kept wet or moist in the Salton Sea area), hops, kohlrabi, lettuce, mangoes, nectarines and peaches, persimmons, plums and prunes, pomegranate, potatoes, radishes, spinach, strawberries, sugar cane, tomatoes, a variety of herbs and spices, and other vegetable crops. The Coachella grapefruit originated in the region. The city of Coachella is the primary shipping point for agricultural goods.