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SALTON SUITE: PART 4 OF 5
Lettuce & Lithium
This is Part 4 of a 5-part photo essay, about a series of road trips around the Salton Sea from September 2008 through May 2023. You can view Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here and Part 5 here.
Heading south from Niland along Highway 111 takes us through the agricultural area of the Imperial Valley and past the southernmost end of the Salton Sea. The highway takes us through Calipatria and into Brawley, where we merge on Highway 78 and travel north and west. It’s hard to believe we’re in the California desert here; it feels more like the American Midwest. Fields of alfalfa and small clumps of grazing cattle dominate the landscape along the way.
There are over 400 farms in the Imperial Valley that produce most of the winter vegetables consumed in the U.S. Lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, asparagus, carrots…