County Farm Head Plowing Through Some Tough Times

In 20 years as the county’s top farm official, Earl McPhail has gone up against fruit flies, freezes and floods--foes as familiar to him as the orchards of the Santa Clara Valley and the fields of the Oxnard Plain.

But a new fight has emerged in recent years, led by homeowners and environmental groups critical of McPhail’s handling of pesticide regulations and his response to public concerns. Some critics have called for his ouster as agricultural commissioner.

The Board of Supervisors weighed in earlier this year, refusing to renew McPhail’s four-year contract and launching instead a six-month job evaluation that concludes next month.

It has been the toughest stretch of McPhail’s career, which began more than 30 years ago as a student aide for the agricultural commissioner in Imperial County, where he was born and raised.

But the 52-year-old Santa Paula resident said the controversy has focused much-needed attention on a department struggling to oversee an industry increasingly at odds with its suburban neighbors.

The conflict has raised awareness of the department’s bare-bones staffing, prompting county officials to consider adding four inspectors to the office. That would boost the number of employees to 43, the same number McPhail had when he took the job in 1979.

Moreover, McPhail said the dispute has convinced him he needs to do a better job educating people on his department’s role in agriculture, from pesticide enforcement to land-use planning.

“Contrary to popular belief by some, agriculture is a good, clean industry and we just need to do a much better job of communicating that,” said McPhail, nearby a life-size cardboard cutout of John Wayne looking over McPhail’s shoulder at his Santa Paula office.

“Anybody who knows me, knows I always tell the truth,” he said. “I tell it like I see it and I will always strive to do the very best job I can. I take that responsibility very seriously.”

Supervisors are set to review McPhail’s job performance July 27. At that time they will assess his progress in addressing concerns that he is out of touch with the public and fails to communicate his department’s activities to the board. Some board members say he has made headway in those areas, noting he has even begun publishing a newsletter on agricultural issues of the day.

At the same time, county officials acknowledge the controversy over McPhail is not entirely his fault. It is emblematic of larger issues facing agriculture as housing tracts bump against farm land.

But they are quick to point out that the commissioner’s office needs to keep pace with changing needs and take on a broader role of enforcer and educator.

“Things are much different today than they were 20 years ago, when Earl first arrived,” said Supervisor John Flynn, one of those questioning McPhail’s methods. “These are simply issues facing any urbanizing county and I think he has responded pretty well now that those issues have been raised.”

Some people aren’t so sure.

Environmental groups continue to attack McPhail’s job performance. Last week his office was singled out in a statewide study on pesticide use. The study noted the state Department of Pesticide Regulation has documented several instances in the past six years in which McPhail’s agency failed to complete investigations in a timely manner and failed to issue fines for serious or repeat violations.

“Our position is that they should not renew Mr. McPhail’s contract based on his history of performance,” said Lori Schiraga, program director for the Environmental Defense Center, which has an office in Ventura. “And in this situation the performance speaks for itself.”

McPhail’s supporters argue he is doing a good job and has become a target for groups that want the commissioner’s office to advance their anti-pesticide agenda. They also say it’s unfair to assess McPhail’s job performance on the basis of the single issue of pesticide enforcement when his duties are far broader, ranging from pest detection to fruit and vegetable inspection.

“We do not want to see that office politicized and we do not want to see it having to respond to the agenda of whatever special interest group,” said Santa Paula citrus rancher Richard Pidduck, president of the Ventura County Farm Bureau. “Our interest is in having a strong, independent agricultural commissioner who properly enforces the law.”

El Centro Native Had Farming in His Blood

Early on, McPhail wanted to be a pharmacist and not a farm official.

Although he grew up in the small farming town of El Centro, where he was first baseman and sometimes shortstop for Central High School’s baseball team, he wanted a job that would keep him out of the scorching Imperial Valley sun.

Too bad farming was in his blood. His father worked for the local power company. But his grandfather was a longtime farmer, and McPhail would spend summer vacations helping out on the ranch he worked near Corona. McPhail learned to drive a tractor and pick and pack cabbage. He sold tomatoes from a roadside stand.

So it was natural that when he discovered a distaste for chemistry at Imperial Valley College, he dropped any notion of dispensing drugs and pursued a degree in agricultural biology.

He graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in 1971 and went to work for the Santa Cruz County agricultural commissioner’s office. Two years later he returned to Imperial County, where he enforced pesticide regulations. That lasted six years, until he came to Ventura County in 1979.

“My wife always told people that when she left the Imperial Valley she was paroled out of purgatory,” cracked McPhail, who in his spare time rides his horse, Zion, and participates in Rotary Club. “The fact is, this is just an absolutely great place to live.”

There has been plenty to keep him busy over the years. But one of his biggest challenges came in 1994 with the discovery of two fertile female medflies in Camarillo, marking the first time the fruit-devouring pests had been found in Ventura County.

Because neighboring Los Angeles County had long battled the medfly, McPhail already had a plan in place.

He launched an all-out assault on the insect, stepping up the county’s trapping program and pushing for the aerial spraying of malathion over the infested area. The spraying took place over 16 square miles in eastern Camarillo over seven months and drew plenty of criticism from local residents.

But McPhail was also widely praised for his quick response to the infestation. While the pest caused $50 million in damage, the situation might have gotten out of control had he hesitated, supporters say. When it came time to renew McPhail’s contract early the following year, supervisors lauded his good work and eagerly reappointed him to another four-year term.

“We had our detractors and rightly so,” McPhail said of that time. “People were concerned because we were spraying 16 square miles. But it could have been much worse.”

Health Concerns Over Pesticide Use

Things started heating up for McPhail in 1996 when east Ventura residents, including the operator of a day-care center, began reporting they were being sickened by pesticide vapors drifting from a strawberry field behind their homes.

Residents complained to the agricultural commissioner’s office but were told the strawberry farmer had met all state and more stringent local regulations for applying the fumigant methyl bromide. Environmentalists and public health advocates, who have long pushed to reduce or ban the highly toxic pesticide, took up the cause.

They accused the agricultural commissioner’s office of failing to adequately respond to the residents’ concerns and of underplaying pesticide-related health hazards.

Earlier this year, anti-pesticide advocates fired off angry letters to the Board of Supervisors, accusing McPhail of being soft on growers and not doing enough to protect farm workers from pesticide exposure.

Weeks after the supervisors put him under review, McPhail was assailed again, this time by the state Department of Pesticide Regulation. State regulators charged that the commission’s office, under McPhail’s leadership, has suffered from shoddy investigations, lax enforcement and poor record keeping of safety violations.

In fact, those deficiencies prompted state officials between 1994 and 1997 to withhold about $11,000 in payments from the California Environmental Protection Agency to the county for its pesticide control programs. No county was docked more money during that period, according to state records.

Douglas Y. Okumura, acting assistant director for enforcement at the state pesticide department, said state officials met with McPhail in May to discuss concerns about enforcement. Okumura said the commissioner’s office has done a good job since then addressing those concerns.

“The commissioner clearly understands the message from us,” Okumura said.

McPhail said many of the problems cited stem from simple paperwork violations. He also said he has lacked the staff to do adequate enforcement, a claim bolstered by state regulators who earlier this month sent a letter to the Board of Supervisors supporting McPhail’s request for more inspectors.

McPhail said he is taking his critics seriously, but quickly adds that none of the state’s allegations indicate public health was endangered. He also disputes claims that his office is unresponsive to public concerns.

“This office has not ignored complaints and concerns, but I’ve found that with some people, if they don’t get the response they want then you’re unresponsive,” he said. “My main concern has always been that the people in this county are safe and I can guarantee the people and their children are safe.”

Many of those who have worked with McPhail over the years say his greatest fault is that he is not a very good politician. He is easygoing and soft-spoken, and could learn to do a better job of banging the drum for his department.

“This is a political issue that is being driven by the environmental community,” said Rob Roy, president of the Ventura County Agricultural Assn., a nonprofit trade group of more than 100 farmers and farm-related businesses.

“I think the people of Ventura County deserve someone like Earl McPhail who has the experience and the ability to deal with issues facing agriculture,” he added. “I hope the board doesn’t give in to the political pressure.”

The Board of Supervisors next month is expected to decide whether to return McPhail to his $84,000-a-year post for another four years. He has been meeting with Chief Administrative Officer Lin Koester to set goals and objectives for himself and his department.

“Overall, I think he is making positive progress,” said Koester, who will make a full report to the board. “He certainly has identified some areas--and concentrated on some areas--that were of concern.”

At this point, McPhail said he is not trying to reinvent his management style, but is working on making his office more accessible to the public. He also is looking for ways to make people better understand the role his department plays in the farm industry.

“Our job is to make sure the laws are abided by and people do what they are supposed to,” he said. “People think we lean one way or the other, but we don’t. We treat everybody the same. We just go out and do the very best job we can.”