Forum to Focus on Agricultural Balance
The steady decline of agricultural land on the Oxnard Plain will provide the fodder Saturday for a public forum, “Preserving the Delicate Balance,” sponsored by the Ventura County League of Women Voters.
“People need to be educated about how agriculture in this county is not just for beauty and open space,” said Ruth Gallagher, program co-chairwoman. “It is also a great economic factor--as a matter of fact, it’s our leading economic industry.”
The forum will deal with finding solutions to the opposing interests of agricultural, public and private enterprise.
Other issues include allaying the unease between growers and residents living adjacent to farmland, as well as coping with an increasing population, the high cost of prime farmland and limited water resources.
The panel will discuss those topics as well as others from the Hansen trust fund study, “The Value of Agriculture to Ventura County: An Economic Analysis.”
Panelists include Larry Rose, president of the Ventura County Agricultural Land Trust Conservancy; Gene Kjellberg from the Ventura County Planning Department; Peter S. Brand with the State Coastal Conservancy; Carolyn Leavens of Pacific Agribusiness Alliance and Sherri Klittich, Hansen trust program administrator.
The forum is from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the James F. Cowan Conference Center, 550 Airport Way, Camarillo. Admission is free.
For information, call 642-8078 or 644-8148.
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