Caramely. Sweet. Jammy. Wrinkly on the outside yet smooth on the inside. Just a few ways you could describe the texture and delicious taste of dates. A member of the stone fruit family that date back to over 50 million years ago and are often associated with the Middle East and North African regions of the world. However, in the southwest corner of Arizona, just 30 minutes from both the Mexico and California borders, you will find a small town nestled in Yuma Valley, called Somerton, Arizona, home to Urias Farm and some of the most delicious medjool dates.
2022 marks the 30th year anniversary of Urias Farm that Alejandro and Lupe Urias started first as a hobby with 28 baby palm shoots and have since grown to over 375 mature palms on 5 acres surrounding their home. With a strong lineage of farmers on both sides of their family, it was only fitting that Urias Farm was born and is still thriving today.
Both originally from Sonora, Mexico, Alejandro’s family started their farm in Mexico with cotton and eventually moved to wheat. They also tended to their household garden with vegetables like zucchini, corn and potatoes mainly as a way to provide food for their family. Both his father, Alejandro Urias Sr, and grandfather, Francisco Urias, would take him to the milpas where he was first exposed to the full farming and harvesting process, seeing how the corn kernels were dried and then used as seeds for the following season.
The word milpa comes from Náhuatl, the original language of the Aztecs, and means “what is sown in the field.” Even today, the process of tending to milpas is a crucial part in ensuring food security for indigenous and rural communities in Mexico, as it is seen as the most effective way to protect and reproduce ancestral seeds.
Once both of their families immigrated to the US, they worked for other farmers. “There is a love of farming in our veins that has kept us farming for generations,” said Alejandro. Serendipitously, after purchasing the land that is now Urias Farm, Lupe’s father, Francisco Gallegos, realized that he tended the exact same land over 40 years prior. At that time is was a citrus farm, then sold and converted into alfalfa, which is when Alejandro and Lupe acquired the property. “In my wildest dreams I never thought that I was going to be the owner of the property that [my father] earned his money to feed us,” said Lupe. After a few years of tending the alfalfa, Alejandro’s father, also Alejandro, suggested the couple plant some date trees.
Both enjoy tending the farm – Alejandro managing the day-to-day operations and Lupe keeping the books and sharing their family farming story with visitors. All pollinating, harvesting and packing is done by hand. Part-time employees thin the dates, which consists of removing some of the unripened dates and ensures that each date has a maximum area to grow to its potential size to guarantee a large, plump and sweet date. After each date is hand-picked, hand sorted then washed and placed in the trays, the dates are then placed in the sun to be naturally dried until they are mature and ready to be hand packed with care. Once packed, the dates are chilled until purchased to maintain their freshness, plumpness and quality.
You can find Urias Farm dates for local pick-up at the farm, at local festivals, word of mouth, along with a few stores and farmers markets in the Phoenix Metro area. The passion and love Alejandro and Lupe have for their farm can be tasted in their medjool dates. Their quality surpasses all others in Yuma County and surrounding areas and they look forward to sharing the fruits of their labor with you!
See you soon,
Alejando, Lupe y Chacha
