Pictured is Imperial Valley farmer Scott Howington, president of the Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association, who recently spoke to Imperial Valley-San Diego Currents about the ongoing efforts of those who work in agriculture as the world faces the challenges of the Coronavirus.

With the world struggling through the impacts of the Coronavirus
pandemic, Imperial-San Diego Currents interviewed (by phone) Imperial Valley
farmer Scott Howington, president of the Imperial Valley Vegetables Growers
Association, on how vegetable growers in the Valley are coping with the crisis.

The short answer is that agriculture remains an essential
service not only to serve California, but the nation and the world, and to that
end the harvesting of vegetables is ongoing and expected to continue as the
Valley heads toward the final weeks of the winter vegetable crops.

“We have not to this point been impacted,” said Howington,
whose farm operation, Oasis Farming Inc., focuses on organic crops, but he emphasized
that food safety

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Leaders of the Native Sons of the Golden West, representing different areas of the State, join in prayer as part of the Native Sons’ dedication of the Imperial Valley’s Spreckles Sugar plant as a significant historical part of the Valley. The dedication was held Saturday, February 8, on the plant grounds along Highway 86 north of Imperial. The facility is the last operating sugar plant in California.

In the geographic center of the Imperial Valley,
strategically located to meet the needs of growers in both the northern and
southern ends of the Valley, stands California’s last operating sugar plant—a
monument to the past, a symbol for the present and a harbinger of the future.

The Spreckles Sugar plant, perhaps better known to longtime
residetns as Holly Sugar, towers over the Highway 86 corridor between El Centro
and Brawley just as it has since it was first built in 1947 to serve the needs
and more importantly

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Children gather together with those in law enforcement and other first responders outside Target in El Centro during an annual Imperial Valley Shop with a Cop event held in recent years. The event is meant to provide a joyous holiday to children facing challenges in life while building positive relationships with those in law enforcement.
Photo by the Imperial Valley Shop with a Cop committee.

Every Christmas season in the Imperial Valley, on a Saturday
afternoon in December, a caravan of law enforcement vehicles and other first responders,
blare their sirens as they make their way to Target for a very special mission
– to give children facing challenges a joyous holiday experience.

The annual event, well into its 20th year, is
called Imperial Valley Shop with a Cop, and it brings together law enforcement
and other first responders together with children who might otherwise not
experience the joy of receiving a gift during the holiday

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