ARTICLE
You may have heard lately of three local agricultural companies ceasing all operations in vegetable or berry production, but contrary to some media allusions the possible extension of the SOAR initiative to 2050 is not the driving force behind such closures, or even the ongoing drought. There are multiple, major, recent legislative mandates affecting local farmers, processors, and shippers that are making them question their operations on the Oxnard plain despite decades of farming here. They say the “road to hell is paved with good intentions” and the single-party dominated State legislature and California executive branch have passed many bills and regulations recently, as well as the County Board of Supervisors, that are cumulatively resulting in the death by a thousand small cuts to the local family farmer, such as: LABOR- Raising the minimum hourly wage to $15 per hour in a relatively short time period, changing the 1.5x overtime pay due from all hours worked over 10 per day to 8 per day (ignoring seasonal harvest reality), treating ag labor contractors as mere conduits so all legal liability for employment standard liability rests with the farmer. Obamacare mandates on minimum plan benefit coverage have made the bronze, state exchange, health insurance plan premiums and deductibles so high that farmers can’t afford to cover seasonal workers with affordable plans that some used to provide workers that covered basic doctor’s visits. PESTICIDES- Banning the fumigant Methyl Bromide before an effective replacement was developed, limiting the application of Telone, doubling the setback buffer for spraying from 600’ to 1200’ from the property line (not from the physical buildings) of public schools and daycare centers. LAND USE RESTRICTIONS- the existing SOAR and many County regulations make it virtually impossible to construct processing facilities, or the latest plant hothouses, or agritourism facilities on the farm in ag-exclusive or open space zoned parcels. Severe zoning limitations on the scale of constructing any farmworker housing on local farms just adds to the deplorable lack of affordable housing for farmworkers. WATER AVAILABILITY & COST- The drought- caused, state mandated cutbacks in pumping groundwater from wells have resulted in formation of numerous water user groups in local basins to form Groundwater Sustainability Plans and entities to protect their rights from the heavy hand of the County and its Groundwater Management Agency. None of this actually creates any new water sources but adds to the layers of fees on water use to pay for more bureaucracy and administrative costs. Of course non-government hurdles to profitable farming in our area are also a problem, namely: INVASIVE PESTS- The Asian psyllid is a major threat to local citrus with no indigenous predators to stop it from spreading a virus fatal to citrus trees, and the shothole borer is a new pest threatening avocado orchards in the area. GLOBALIZATION- It is a world market for many of the specialty crops produced in Ventura County with plenty of foreign competition exporting the same crops with lower costs and often government subsidies to support them gaining market share, not to mention favorable exchange rates versus the U.S. dollar. Both Mission Produce and Calavo import more fruit now annually from Mexico and South America than they source from our local growers. The cumulative end result of all these factors above is that the local Oxnard farmer working on low margins must either go out of business, relocate out of the area, or shrink to supply just local farmers’ markets and restaurants, or more commonly become a “contract grower” for a large corporate farming operation such as Dole, Duda, or Driscoll . These entities ship year-round from multiple growing areas and are increasingly shifting as much production as possible to other states or Mexico with lower costs, available water, and less regulation. The net result is a loss to our local economy by local growers leaving or shrinking, which affects employment, the multiplier effect of local purchasing with suppliers, and even local government revenues. Efforts to “preserve” local farming as it existed yesterday cannot stay inflexible to the point of not allowing this vital industry to change with the outside pressures in order to survive as best it can. Fred Ferro Chair of the Board