COACHELLA VALLEY, Calif. — Four generations of the Melkesian family have grown palm trees for more than 80 years in California’s arid Coachella Valley.

Today, the family has 115 acres of palm trees under cultivation. They are used for the iconic desert landscapes around the region and to produce dates.

“My dad, two brothers, and I work together,” said Kallie Melkesian. “Desert Empire Palms is definitely a family business.”

The business was founded in 1940 when her great grandfather, Melkes Melkesian, began cultivating palm trees. He was followed into the business by his son, Buddy. The next generation was Bobby Sr., who was followed into the business by Kallie and her two brothers, Bobby Jr. and Matthew.

The family grows both fan palms and date palms. The fan palms are the California, Canary Island and Mexican varieties. The date palms are the Medjool and Deglet varieties.

Palm trees are really not trees at all, she said. They’re a type of grass. For this reason, they grow tall and not wide like a tree.

“We also have a wholesale palm business where we sell the actual palm tree for landscaping,” she said.

Male and female trees are needed to produce dates. A male date palm can fertilize any variety of female date palm.

You cannot plant a date seed and grow a tree that produces the same fruit. A date palm will grow, but it will produce an inferior date, Melkesian said.

To propagate date palms, growers remove “shoots” from the side of the palms and replant them. These have the same genetics as the mother palm and will produce the same quality fruit.

The date harvest is a year-long endeavor. Date palms produce a crop once per year, but there are steps that must be followed to prepare the palms.

The palms are cleaned up by removing excess fronds, which are the leaf-like structures. The remaining fronds are dethorned to protect the workers.

The males produce pollen and the females produce bunches of dates that need to be pollinated. When the males put out the pollen bunches, workers extract them and pollinate the females.

“Next, we ‘ponytail’ and tie down the date bunches,” she said. “Both of these steps position the date bunches for optimal growth and helps prevent them from snapping with the excess weight of fruit. Next, we bag the dates so that they do not fall to the ground as they ripen.”

Although the Coachella Valley still leads in Medjool production; growers are facing competition from Deglet Noor production in Mexico and elsewhere.

This is the variety of date used in granola bars. They do not have to be a beautiful fruit and can be imported for a much lower price due to California’s high labor costs, Melkesian said.

Melkesian says another challenge that growers face is the prices offered by the packing houses. Growers often do not have much negotiating power when it comes to the prices for dates, she said.

In the end, the grower gets the smallest piece of the pie compared to what a consumer pays for dates in the store.

Hometown: Indio, Calif.

Acreage: 115 acres of palms

Occupation: Administrative side of the Desert Empire Palms farm operation

Family: Husband, Cris Banuelos, and her father and brothers — Bobby, Bobby Jr. and Matthew Melkesian.

Quote: “Look out for the underdog.”