California's rich, irrigated central valley agricultural region between Sacramento and Bakersfield is known by what proper name?

This incredibly fertile agricultural heartland, stretching south from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to the Tehachapi Mountains near Bakersfield, is properly known as the San Joaquin Valley. It takes its name from the San Joaquin River, the primary waterway that drains the southern portion of this vast basin. Together with the Sacramento Valley to the north, it forms the immense California Central Valley, an area that is geographically flat but flanked by the Sierra Nevada to the east and the Coast Ranges to the west.

Often called "the nation's food basket," the valley is one of the most productive farming regions on Earth. This remarkable output is made possible by a complex system of irrigation that channels snowmelt from the adjacent Sierra Nevada, transforming the naturally semi-arid landscape into a global agricultural powerhouse. It produces a staggering variety of crops, including a majority of the world's almonds and pistachios, as well as vast quantities of grapes, cotton, tomatoes, and citrus, feeding millions of people across the country and around the globe.