County Farmers Work to Drain Fields and Save Damaged Crops

Farmers waded through muddy fields to unclog drainage canals and hustled to salvage damaged strawberries Saturday as agricultural losses threatened to reach the $2-million mark in Ventura County.

“We think we dodged a bullet this morning,” avocado farmer Rob Brokaw said after predictions of heavy showers failed to materialize by midday. “Tomorrow, I might sing a different song.”

Brokaw’s workers spent Saturday fixing drainage systems, installing extra pipes and digging new channels at two orchards in Ventura and Santa Paula.

Meanwhile, a Ventura County agricultural official estimated losses from last week’s flooding at $1 million to $2 million. Fields of vegetables, strawberries and flowers in Oxnard and Camarillo were flooded during storms that hit Monday and Wednesday.

“We still haven’t been able to ascertain all the damage,” Deputy Agricultural Commissioner Dave Buettner said, adding that totals might not be available until about midweek.

Rex Laird, executive director of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, said many of the affected farmers were from the Oxnard Plain, where nearly 1,000 acres of agricultural land was flooded last week.

“I’ve already had calls from people who are asking if there’s going to be disaster relief,” he said.

The damage has been particularly hard on vegetable growers, Laird added.

Because of overproduction, “They weren’t making enough money, and they haven’t been for a long time,” he said. “This is the straw that will break the camel’s back for a lot of growers.”

At San Miguel Produce, which farms 1,500 acres of vegetables in Camarillo and Oxnard, 10 acres of celery, lettuce and broccoli were flooded near Las Posas and Pleasant Valley roads, President Roy Nishimori said. He estimated the damage at less than $30,000.

“So far we have been fortunate,” he said. “Others have suffered greater damages.”

The largest reported loss so far was at Pacific Sod in Oxnard, where owner Richard Rogers on Tuesday cited a crop loss of about $250,000 after the Calleguas Creek overflowed its banks and flooded fields that were ready to harvest. Rogers was not available for comment Saturday.

Ten of the 250 acres of strawberries at Kotake Farms in Camarillo were flooded because drainage canals were backed up, owner Craig Kotake said. The strawberries are worth up to $25,000 an acre, he said.

“It’s hard to say what kind of production we’ll get out of that block,” Kotake said. “I couldn’t even go back there because it’s so muddy and wet.”

At the 150-acre Western Berry Farms in Oxnard, workers threw away 90% of the fruit that was harvested because of damage, grower Mike Conroy said. Muddy fields also slowed the harvest.

“We needed the rain, but I don’t think we needed the last four inches of it,” Conroy said. “If we didn’t have the rain, I’d be picking 1,000 crates a day. Now we’re picking only about 100.”

But if rain was a problem for some growers, clear and hot weather could be as well.

Strawberry growers are concerned that a warming trend over the next few days could promote rot and mold, Conroy said.

The effect of the rains is already evident at the produce counter. Many stands around the county were closed for most of the week because of the rains, leaving vegetable and fruit buyers frustrated.

“We’ve been trying to find some strawberries, but we haven’t had any luck so far,” said John Sanders, 27, of Thousand Oaks as he sat in a car with friends at a closed produce stand on Victoria Avenue.

Mike Cole, a manager at Mr. C’s Produce at Victoria Avenue and Teal Club Road, one of the few open stands in Ventura, said the only strawberries he had to sell were picked before they were fully ripe. They were also on the pricey side--each basket was selling for $2.

“The first ones are more expensive than normal. But I’m sure they’ll go down,” Cole said. “Strawberries have a long season.”

Correspondent Peggy Y. Lee contributed to this report.