YUMA, AZ (AZFamily) — The warm temperatures are no joke in the Desert Southwest. But believe it or not, that extreme heat can be a good thing, especially when it comes to growing dates.
In Yuma, a local date farmer tells us this year’s harvest season is starting early, thanks to what he calls ideal conditions.
Dates are often described as the gold of the Desert Southwest, and growers say the hotter it gets, the better the fruit can be.
“Some crops and some plants struggle with the heat, especially here in Yuma—the dates thrive in the weather, they thrive in this hundred degree weather,” said Nels Rogers, a second-generation farmer.
Rogers is the owner of Martha’s Garden Date Farm, a family business that started decades ago.
“Our wonderful and beautiful farm started—in to be exact—in ’89… 1989,” Rogers said.
Rogers says the farm’s name, Martha’s Garden, comes from his mother.
Before it became a date farm, the land was pristine desert. Now, it’s grown into one of the most popular spots to buy dates in the Yuma area.
“We started planting and we went with just starting off with 300 to 400 date trees to now ten thousand producing medjool date palms on a 160-acre date farm,” Rogers said.
Why triple-digit temps are ideal for dates
Rogers says triple-digit temperatures help dates fully mature—making Yuma a perfect place to grow them.
The process begins early in the year, with pollination typically taking place in January and February. As summer heat sets in, the fruit grows quickly, and by August and September, harvest season is usually underway.
But this year, Rogers says the hot weather arrived early.
“We noticed this year—we actually had to pollinate much earlier, about a month earlier than expected, as usual,” Rogers said.
Rogers showed Arizona’s Family around the farm as workers trimmed and maintained the trees—cutting out the center of some palms and carefully binding sections to prevent breakage.
“It is very important how we tie the arms because you can see this tree right here on the right-hand side—if you look above—unfortunately, one of the arms snapped off,” Rogers said.
Some of the dates are sold right at the farm’s store and online. Rogers says they also ship their products as far away as Australia.
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