County Issue / Agriculture’s Prospects :...

Cassandra Auerbach, Member, Sierra Club, Conejo chapter

We have prime agricultural land in Ventura County, and it’s being wasted and destroyed all over the world at an incredible rate. We have a growing population of people on this planet. There are still more people being born, and they’re not eating any less. It’s not right to start paving over the farmlands and putting factories on it. It’s counterproductive, globally speaking. What Ventura County should be doing is finding ways to help the farmers out, for example the agricultural land trust (a citizens committee formed to raise money to buy land or property rights from farmers) and finding ways to get them low-cost water, or finding crops that may be more valuable. It takes a lot of money to truck produce in from other places. It’s expensive in terms of air pollution and traffic. We have food production right here. That’s not something that can be said of a lot of areas. Agriculture is the biggest industry here. Why should we shoot ourselves in the foot?

*

Tom Pecht, Vice president, Ventura County Farm Bureau

First of all, a one- or two-year decline in agricultural prices, in most cases, is not going to break the viable farmer. Anybody who has been a good-producing farmer is going to make it fine, although it will be difficult. The ones that are going to fall by the wayside are the ones that aren’t efficient. That’s just a way of life and it goes on in any business, most of all in these economic times. I think agriculture will be economically feasible if growers are efficient-minded and produce what is a product that is going to be in demand. The old ways of farming, of just producing any crop of good quality, doesn’t work in today’s world. You have to find a product that has a marketable niche. I don’t believe in government support of agriculture. At the same time, I think the whole issue of greenbelts is a property-rights issue. I think the farmers have the right to decide their own future and what should be done with their property, given the land restrictions already placed on them by the state and county.

*

Earl McPhail, Ventura County agricultural commissioner

I think agriculture is going to continue to be strong in this county for a long time to come. Agriculture always has its ups and downs. We’ve had hard times in the past and we’ll have hard times to come. But this is a $725-million-plus industry in Ventura County, which is a pretty good yield given the amount of acreage we have available to us. So I don’t think there will be anything to worry about for many years to come. I think some areas are more vulnerable--the areas surrounding Oxnard and Camarillo. But that is an ongoing evolutionary process. The county as a whole is going to remain strong for quite a long time. Greenbelts help, there’s no question about that, but I think the main thing that keeps land in production is whether or not it’s profitable. Last year’s drop had more to do with the weather than anything else, and we as humans don’t have any control over that.

*

Carolyn Leavens, Citrus rancher

The kind of 20% drop we have experienced is the kind of seasonal thing that occurs with changing weather patterns and changing crop patterns that really don’t have much to do with the economy. It’s something we know will come again in a few years, so that’s not as much of a concern to us. Pressure from the political situation in Ventura County is of greater concern to us. Some study has gone into what constitutes a critical mass for agriculture in any area. The best information we have is the critical mass in Orange County was about 70,000 producing acres. As soon as agricultural acreage falls below that point, then we find we cannot support the suppliers that agriculture needs to function well. We are still at something a little over 100,000 acres, so we feel we’re still in a very strong position. It’s a matter of political will to determine whether we’ll still be here. We’re willing to stay and take the risk. Whether or not the political will is there is not something we can address.

*

Maggie Kildee, Ventura County supervisor

I think agriculture will remain a viable industry for some time to come, but I believe the time has come that leaders need to work with the agricultural community to make sure that happens. The soil and climate in Ventura County are especially good for agriculture. That industry is not something you can easily move to another geographic location. I’ve worked very hard with the agricultural land trust committee because I believe that is one way we can keep agriculture viable into the future. In that arena, farmers in this county have been working with the county to make sure we move forward. There are concerns about the availability of water and the whole regional aspect of pesticides, but when you look at another area like the southern Central Valley, and you see the cities and industry working together, that shows me that together we can help keep agriculture viable.