Date Farms of the Coachella Valley: A Grower’s Guide (2026)

I farm dates in Sky Valley, on the Desert Hot Springs side of the Coachella Valley. So read this knowing I am one of the farms on the list, and that I sell dates for a living.

I have tried to be useful rather than promotional. Most of the guides to this valley are written by people who have never tied a bag over a fruit bunch in August. Some of them are written by companies that don’t grow anything at all. Everything below is either something I know from working here or something I checked against the farm’s own website and phone number in August 2026. Hours and seasons change constantly out here — call before you drive. Several of these places are somebody’s yard.

We grow these. Zahidi Dates | California-Grown & Farm-Direct | Desert Sun Dates from our family farm in Sky Valley, California — from $19/lb, shipping included. See them →

Why this valley grows almost all of America’s dates

The Coachella Valley produces the overwhelming majority of dates grown in the United States. The reason is unglamorous: date palms need punishing heat to ripen fruit, they need almost no rain during the ripening months, and they need reliable irrigation water. This valley has all three. Summer temperatures regularly pass 115°F, annual rainfall is a few inches, and there is an aquifer underneath.

Date palms are also slow. A palm planted today produces its first meaningful crop in roughly seven to eight years. Almost nobody plants dates as a quick business, which is why the farms here tend to be generational, and why the same family names keep appearing.

One thing worth understanding before you visit anything: dates are not picked all at once. Fruit ripens unevenly on the bunch, so a working farm goes through the same palm several times across the season. That is why harvest stretches from roughly August into November rather than happening on a single weekend.

Desert Hot Springs and Sky Valley

This is the northern end of the valley, off Dillon Road and Highway 62, between Palm Springs and Joshua Tree. It is hotter, quieter and less manicured than the valley floor. Real working desert rather than resort country — and there are more date farms tucked into it than most visitors realise.

Sam Cobb Farms

22325 Henry Rd, Desert Hot Springs · (760) 861-1664 · samcobbfarms.com

The best-known small farm in this part of the valley, and deservedly so. Sam Cobb spent decades in agriculture before planting his own palms, and he runs guided date farm tours that people write about for years afterwards. He grows Medjool, Barhi, and a variety he calls Black Gold that you will not find anywhere else.

Important: on-farm sales, visits and tours run roughly mid-October to mid-April, weekends only. He is closed to visitors through the entire harvest. Online ordering runs year-round. If you want the tour, plan for winter, and book ahead.

San Marcos Date Farm

73450 Lin Mar Ct, Desert Hot Springs · (760) 329-4748

A genuinely charming stop and one of the easiest farms in the valley to actually walk into. Open most days, samples offered freely, dates sold by the box, and the family will show you around the palms for a small fee if you ask. Expect chickens and peacocks. Bring cash.

Mineral Spring Date Farm

16205 Johnson Rd, Desert Hot Springs · (949) 212-4176

A working date farm that also runs glamping accommodation with private mineral hot tubs, which is a combination I have never seen anywhere else. You can buy dates there and stay the night under the palms. Best in the cooler months for obvious reasons.

Desert Sun Dates — that’s us

23925 Longvue Rd, Desert Hot Springs · (760) 501-1845

Our family farm in Sky Valley. We grow Medjool, Zahidi and Barhi. We hand-pollinate every spring, hand-harvest in late summer, and pack and ship every order ourselves from the ranch.

We are not the biggest farm on this list and we are not the most famous. What we are is small, online-first, and open during harvest, which is when most of the valley’s visitable farms are closed. We are not certified organic and we don’t claim to be — we grow without pesticides, and that is a narrower claim than certification, so we say the narrower thing.

If you are passing through Sky Valley, call ahead and I will walk you down the rows.

Indio and Coachella

The middle of the valley, and where the industry’s public face lives.

Shields Date Garden

80-225 Highway 111, Indio · (760) 347-0996

Founded in 1924 and the single most visited date destination in California. There is a café, a garden walk through mature palms, a gift shop, and a famously odd 1950s film called The Romance and Sex Life of the Date still playing on a loop in a small theatre.

Most people come for the date shake, and they should. If you have one stop in you and you want the classic Coachella Valley date experience, this is it. Open daily, year-round. Note that it is a destination and a retailer as much as a farm — that is not a criticism, it is just what it is.

Temalpakh Farm

Coachella · temalpakhfarm.com

Operated by the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians. A farm market selling fresh produce, dates and smoothies, with an education centre and a tours programme. Worth going to specifically because the agricultural story here is much older than the date industry, and they tell it properly.

Fernandez Date Sales

53780 Van Buren St, Coachella · (760) 398-1603

A family packing house that sells retail directly from the property. Medjool and Barhi. No frills at all — you are buying from the people who packed it — and the prices reflect that. They also work a lot of the Southern California farmers’ markets, so if you’re in Los Angeles or San Diego you may well have bought from them already without knowing.

Leja Dates

52500 Van Buren St, Coachella · (760) 398-8702

Another small direct-sale operation on Van Buren. Medjool and Deglet Noor, sold by the box at prices that are hard to beat anywhere in the valley.

Desert Valley Date

86-740 Industrial Way, Coachella · (760) 398-0999

A packing and distribution operation rather than a visitor destination. Their fruit ends up in supermarkets across the country. Listed here for completeness — this is where a lot of the valley’s volume actually moves.

Thermal and Mecca

The southern end, below sea level, closest to the Salton Sea. The largest acreage in the valley is down here, and so are several of the best small farms.

Fresh Dates by Anderson

59-777 Calhoun St, Thermal · (760) 485-6317

A family farm going back to the 1920s, selling fresh-picked fruit from under the trees a few feet from where it is being boxed. The signage takes you to what looks like a house, because it is one. Go anyway.

Bautista Family Organic Dates

93800 Hammond Rd, Mecca · (760) 396-2337 · bautistaorganicdates.com

Certified organic, seven varieties — Medjool, Khadrawy, Halawy, Honey, Deglet Noor, Zahidi and Barhi. One of the genuinely excellent small organic operations in the valley, and their “wet pack” Medjools have a following. They sell online as well as on the farm.

Note: their online shop is seasonal and sells out. As of late August 2026 it was closed and due to reopen in September.

Pato’s Dream Date Gardens

60499 Harrison St, Thermal · (760) 399-5669

Small, organic, and beautiful — several varieties, other fruit trees, and a working-farm atmosphere. Very much a family operation.

Aziz Farms

82805 Avenue 60, Thermal · (760) 784-5112 · azizfarms.com

Established 1989, family-run, and unusual in that alongside farming they host events on the property — dinners in the orchard, school field trips, community festivals. If you want the agricultural-tourism version of a date farm visit with actual scale behind it, this is the one.

Hadley Date Gardens

83555 Airport Blvd, Thermal · (760) 399-5191

One of the valley’s long-standing commercial growers, farming here since the 1940s. Medjool, Deglet Noor and Zahidi, distributed into retail and food manufacturing. Not a visitor destination — a serious farming operation.

Coachella’s Best Dates / Del Rey Farms

coachellasbestdates.com

A certified organic operation farming around a hundred acres, selling direct online with an unusually wide grading system — mini, premium, large, jumbo, rutab, cooking grade — across Medjool plus Barhi, Halawi, Zahidi, Honey and Deglet. If you want to buy organic Coachella Valley dates online and choose your exact grade, they have the deepest range of anyone here.

Oasis Date

Thermal · oasisdate.com

Now positioned as North America’s largest date grower and processor, supplying much of the retail date market. If you have eaten a supermarket date from California, there is a fair chance it passed through here. Their public-facing side has changed over the years — check their site for current visitor arrangements before making the drive.

Jewel Date Company

jeweldate.com

A Coachella Valley date family operating primarily as an ingredient supplier — date paste, date powder, diced dates, date sugar — into food manufacturing. They are also the family who bought and restored Shields Date Garden when it was at risk of being demolished, which is worth knowing next time you’re drinking a date shake there.

When to come

Season	What’s happening	Good for
Aug–Oct	Harvest. Fruit on the palms, bunches bagged, packing sheds running	Seeing an actual working harvest. Fewest farms open to visitors
Oct–Apr	Retail season. Most farm stands and tour programmes open	Tours, farm stands, date shakes, comfortable weather
Feb–Mar	Hand pollination	The most interesting thing on a date farm, and almost nobody sees it
May–Jul	Fruit developing. Extreme heat	Not much. Many places closed

The irony of date tourism here is that the season most farms open to visitors is the season with no fruit on the trees. October through April is comfortable to walk around in, so that is when the stands open. If you want to see dates actually being picked, come in September and call ahead, because your options are fewer.

How to tell what you’re actually buying

A few things worth knowing, whoever you buy from:

“Farm direct” is not a regulated term. Plenty of companies selling dates online are resellers with a warehouse. It is not dishonest to resell dates — but it is a different thing from buying from the grower, and the price often does not reflect the difference. If it matters to you, look for a physical address you could drive to.

“Organic” is regulated. A farm either holds USDA organic certification or it does not. Several farms on this list are certified — Bautista, Coachella’s Best and others. We are not. Ask, and be a little wary of anyone who answers vaguely.

Ask when it was picked. Dates store well, which is a genuine virtue, but there is a real difference between fruit from this season and fruit that has been in cold storage since last year. Both are legitimate products. Only one of them is what most people picture.

Per-pound price beats box price. Boxes are sold in wildly different weights across this valley. Work out the per-pound cost, and include shipping if you’re ordering online, because freight on a heavy fruit is not a rounding error.

Frequently asked questions

When is date season in the Coachella Valley?
Harvest runs roughly August through November depending on variety, with Medjool typically peaking September into October. Barhi comes earlier, and is the one variety often sold fresh and yellow rather than soft and brown.

Which date farms can you visit?
Shields Date Garden is open daily year-round. Sam Cobb Farms, San Marcos Date Farm, Aziz Farms, Temalpakh Farm and Bautista all receive visitors, though several are seasonal or weekends-only. Hadley, Oasis, Jewel Date and Desert Valley Date are commercial operations rather than destinations. Always call first.

Where can I get a date shake?
Shields Date Garden in Indio is the classic. There are several others along Highway 111 and Indian Canyon Drive.

What’s the difference between Medjool, Deglet Noor, Zahidi and Barhi?
Medjool is large, soft and caramel-sweet — the famous one. Deglet Noor is firmer, drier and less sweet, and holds its shape in cooking. Zahidi is golden, semi-dry, with a brown-sugar note; excellent for baking. Barhi is the most delicate — butterscotch-soft when ripe, and also eaten fresh in its yellow crunchy stage, which is a genuinely different fruit.

Are Coachella Valley dates better than imported dates?
Honestly, “better” depends on the farm rather than the country. What California gives you is a much shorter supply chain — the fruit can reach you within days of leaving the tree rather than after months in transit and storage.

Written by Jason Shopshear, who grows Medjool, Zahidi and Barhi dates at Desert Sun Dates in Sky Valley, California. Details verified August 2026 against each farm’s own website and listed phone number. Farms open and close, and hours change with the season — please call ahead. If your farm is on this list and something is wrong, or if you should be on it and aren’t, email me and I will fix it.