Expo showcases Imperial Valley agriculture
IMPERIAL — In an event many would consider long overdue, the first-ever Imperial Valley Ag Expo celebrated just how important the industry of agriculture is locally.
The event spanned over two days, with a dinner and silent auction Friday and the Expo taking place Saturday at the Imperial Valley Expo and Fairgrounds here.
Approximately 60 agricultural and ag support vendors filled the Preble Building to give those in the industry a chance to connection, and community members unfamiliar with industry a chance to learn more about it.
The Expo ran from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. with special events, such as educational workshops and tractor driving, taking place throughout the day.
“It’s paid for itself already,” said one of the vendors, Adalino Figueroa, manager for East Bay Tire Co., which made the trip from Yuma for the event. The company opened it full-time service center in Yuma only six weeks ago and was eager to build name recognition among farmers in the Valley.
“A lot of times, it’s hard to reach the owners,” Figueroa said. “Here they’re more relaxed.”
Rachel Garewal and Hiram Rocha of the Imperial County Agricultural Commissioner office presented workshops on invasive species within the county and on local pesticide enforcement.
Garewal’s presentation focused on how invasive species can be a problem as they tend of outcompete native species since they don’t have natural predators or diseases that might affect them.
Her presentation also touched on a couple of specifies species here and the county’s efforts to fight them.
Pierce’s disease affects a number of crops, including alfalfa. Spreading the disease to healthy plants are glassy-winged sharpshooters, which are large leafhopper insects the county continues to inspect for.
“We’re kind of an island of an unaffected county so there’s a lot pest pressure to have to be introduced, especially on nursery stocks,” Garewal said. “So we’re inspecting nursery stock when it comes into the county looking for this disease.”
Garewal said speaking in the Expo was an enjoyable experience, and hopes to see the event grow.
“We really like to support anything that shines a light on anything about local agriculture,” Garewal said. “I think next year we’ll see more and more participating in this event.”
A John Deere “drive green” area was held just outside the Casa De Manana building in which participants could test drive four different types of tractors.
“With the simplicity of these, anybody can drive a tractor,” Michael Ligtenberg, of RDO Equipment in Riverside, said. “It’s not just farmers out here driving. It’s also people who have never gotten on them trying them out for the first time. There’s also been a lot of kids, and it’s nice seeing the next generation getting on them.”
An equipment display lot showcasing all types of agricultural equipment, which attendees could rent, was set up right next to the tractor rides.
A portion of the proceeds from the two-day event, which was created by Rollins Creative LLC and presented by RDO Equipment with support from the Imperial Valley Farm Bureau and Brawley Chamber of Commerce, went toward local agricultural education programs and an ag scholarship.
On Friday during the event’s dinner ceremony, local student Sydney Mange was awarded the scholarship, worth $3,000, and Holtville FFA received the grant, which was also worth $3,000. The event came about after the owners of Rollins Creative, Jodi Rollins and her husband, J., were seeking to create a Valleywide event and realized no agricultural expo had been done.
“We just grew the vision and reached out to vendors, and after a lot of pavement-pounding and phone-call-making, here we are today,” said Rollins. “A lot of people have told us that this event is long overdue.”
Rollins, a New York native, lived in Los Angeles for the past 14 years prior to meeting her husband, who works locally in management for farm labor.
“With anything, you’ve got to start slowly and build,” said the New York native. “Next year, I think we’re going to have an even bigger turnout, more booths and we want this thing to take up the entire fairgrounds one day and for people to come all around the world to our Valley.”
ICFB’s Executive Director Brea Mohammed highly supported the idea of the Expo’s creation.
“Any opportunity that we have to promote agriculture here in the Imperial Valley is awesome,” Mohammed said. “Imperial Valley should have an event of this nature, and we should be celebrating our agriculture here.” The ICFB executive director believed the event was tremendously important, as agriculture is both the number one industry in economic output and the number two in employment in the county.
“With agriculture having such a huge part in the Imperial Valley’s past and present and future, I believe that it’s really important for us to have this event and for us to continue on with this event every year, and hopefully continue to see it grow,” Mohammed said.