OXNARD : City to Buy Land, Use Waste as Fertilizer

The Oxnard City Council approved an imaginative venture Tuesday to buy 1,150 acres in Kern County and use the city’s solid waste supply as fertilizer to grow alfalfa, corn and other crops not for human consumption.

But instead of farming the land themselves, city officials plan to hire a contractor, U.S.A. Transport Inc., to tend the crops. The company would also move the waste from Oxnard’s Wastewater Treatment Plant to Kern County.

The proposal was reworked because several council members were concerned that Oxnard bureaucrats would be out of their element trying to coordinate the operation of a farm.

“The farming operation will rent from the city, and in essence pay for our investment that way,” said Councilman Dean Maulhardt, a former farmer.

Under the new plan, Oxnard will purchase the land for no more than $1,200 an acre, or about $1.38 million.

The city will lease the land to U.S.A. Transport Inc. for $125,000 a year plus 3% of the revenues obtained from any other cities that take their sludge to the farm.

The investment is expected to reduce Oxnard’s solid waste disposal costs by $136,000 a year.