Ventura County growers in position to weather the drought
Ventura County Agriculture Commissioner Henry Gonzales told the Business Times that the county’s farm output will decline if the drought continues, but strawberries, the county’s No. 1 crop, would likely be the least affected because of their high return value.
Funding farming’s future: USDA tags Tri-Counties for program
A $10 billion federal fund from the U.S. Department of Agriculture could provide much-needed assistance for developing water systems and other infrastructure in the Tri-Counties, where the region’s agriculture industry has suffered tremendous losses from the drought. The USDA has designated Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties as “drought disaster counties” as Read More →
Crop values hit $4.4B as drought parches strawberries
Drought conditions sapped 12 percent of the value of strawberry production in Ventura County while wine grapes surged for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties to help boost the region’s crop values to $4.4 billion, according to reports on last year’s crops.
Dry weather plagues Ventura County strawberries
Oxnard strawberry growers lost an average $10,000 to $15,000 per acre worth of crop last year because the berries died off prematurely in dry weather, and farmers could be in for a repeat of that scenario this year.
Strawberries top tri-county farming forecast in 2014
Strawberries remain the largest piece of the pie in the Tri-Counties’ multibillion-dollar agriculture industry, but there will be slightly less acreage in the New Year.
