Produce business grows despite market problems.

Industry-wide changes and drought present challenges

Ventura County's $900-million agricultural industry, which weathered the twin threats of recession and drought better than most expected, now has two other problems to chew on: the loss of the family farmer and more produce than customers.

Still,

Lemons remained Ventura's No. 1 crop in 1991, with gross revenues of $175 million, while strawberries brought in $126.4 million in pre-tax sales for county farmers. Coming in third, with $113.9 million in 1991 gross revenues, were nursery stock goods, typically trees, plants and ornament flowers. Ventura-grown celery, meanwhile, raked in $84.5 million in gross revenues -- a crop so bountiful it represents nearly one-quarter of that vegetable's United States production.

Overall, Ventura's agricultural business posted $909 million in revenues last year, up from $850 million in 1990, according to the latest available state figures. Some 13,000 county residents list farming as their profession.

Despite the recession, "the season has been good. The industry is stable," said Robert Brendler, a farm adviser to the University of California system.

Rounding out the county's other top money-earning crops were: Valencia oranges, $51.2 million; cut flowers, $27.6 million; lettuce, $24.6 million; and broccoli and grapefruit, each with roughly $8.2 million in gross revenues.

Nonetheless, Ventura's farm industry, many say, is increasingly taking on the look of America's heartland, where smaller, family-owned farms have been bought -- or driven out -- by corporate concerns that are nimbler at capitalizing on the pull and tug of market forces.

"The number of farmers here is still diminishing because of the advantages of size," Brendler said. "It's a matter of economics: The most successful people are the ones that are growing on large acreage."

That trend is particularly acute in vegetable and strawberry crops, where large land tracts are needed in the plant-to-harvest cycle. Smaller orange and lemon growers, conversely, have managed to survive by joining outfits like Sunkist Growers Inc., the giant Sherman Oaks-based cooperative that markets West Coast citrus produce.

Still, Ventura's 250 cattle, oat, hay and barley farmers try to stick it out on their own.

"The problem is making money, and that becomes a little more difficult because of the productive capacity of the farming industry," said David Cook, salesman for Deardorff-Jackson, an Oxnard-based company that grows and ships fresh fruits and vegetables. Cook said because of economies of scale, the increasing reliance on sophisticated marketing networks and the expensive price tags of farm equipment, smaller growers have it tough, especially when they must adjust to times when productive capacity exceeds consumer and retailer demands.

"The advantage goes to the larger farmers because they are the ones most capable of surviving," Cook added. "Producing more, not less, is the only salvation of the individual farmer."

Figures comparing the number and sales volume of the large and smaller growers were not available, though most say independents still outnumber bigger, corporate-run enterprises.

Regardless of size, farmers throughout Ventura -- especially those growing water-thirsty citrus and avocados -- are rejoicing the fact that the five-year drought has eased. So are the politicians.

At one point last year, the drought was so serious that growers, developers and even the regional water district banded together in a high-profile fight against the City of Ventura's decision to continue pumping groundwater from a local aquifer. Record levels of rainfall, including several deluges, in the last half of 1991 and the first part of this year, however, muted the controversy and put plans for a lawsuit against the city on the back burner for now.

Unlike its neighbors to the north and south, Ventura County relies on local sources to quench most water needs of residents, industry and agriculture. During the dry times, when water sources like the Ventura River were down by more than one-quarter and local wells were drying up, residents were forced for a time to ration along with other Southern Californians. Concerned about the future, county officials are mulling ways to obtain more water, perhaps by bond proceeds needed to finance new hook-ups into state water projects.

Only about 22 percent to Ventura's water is imported, said Rex Laird, an official with Ventura County's farm bureau. Because of those limited resources, Ventura municipalities have long been charged fees to hook up to government-run water pipelines -- fees that have helped maintained the region's reputation as a slow-growth haven.

It was that reputation, along with the county's proximity to markets and more temperate climate, that drove scores of Orange County farmers to Ventura decades ago, said Earl McPhail, a Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner. Only about 1,500 acres of farmable land disappears each year to new residential and light industry development, he estimated.

According to industry sources, lemon groves take up more than 22,000 acres, mostly on the Oxnard plain 10 miles to 15 miles from the coast. Close by are the orange, celery and lettuce growers, as well as strawberry farms, which are run by a cadre of about 25 growers.

The hillsides of Camarillo are where much of the avocados are produced, particularly by those who don't consider farming to be their main vocation, said the University of California's Brendler. Greenhouses are being used increasingly to pump out fresh-cut and dried decorative flowers.

Prices, Commissioner McPhail said, have been stable for the past five years, though they have dipped slightly in the last six months because of abundant crops and the recession. But the economic recovery, increasing trade with Canada and the opening up of other foreign markets under new global trading agreements could soon equalize the glut of agricultural products, he said.