In early fall, California’s Ventura County released its crop and livestock report, which for the first time included production-cost data. To drive that point home, the Farm Bureau of Ventura County created a website — economicsoftheacre.org — to illustrate the impact of local agriculture and the startling costs of production.
Louise Lampara, CEO of the Farm Bureau of Ventura County, says she’s heard feedback from the county’s growers that the report and data might be a bit too optimistic.
“The only negative that I’ve gotten from our Economics of the Acre project is that we may not have painted it as bad as what it actually is,” she says. “We’ve gotten no pushback that our numbers are too dire; [the] only comment we’ve gotten is that we may not have expressed how dire it really is.”
High Production Costs Drive Multimillion-Dollar Crop Losses
That’s saying something, as the report detailed how production costs outpaced gross return for the county’s top crop, strawberries. Strawberry growers paid roughly $815.1 million in production costs in 2025 while grossing only $807 million. This left strawberry growers with a net loss of $8.1 million. Lemons generated $181.7 million in gross returns but cost growers $203.5 million, resulting in an out-of-pocket loss of $21.8 million.
Lampara says berry growers in the county are deeply concerned about rising fuel costs and significant hikes in water rates.
“We just continue to see the spiraling costs,” she says. “What I’m hearing from other berry growers, from other farmers, is, ‘We’re all trying to figure out how we operate through next year.’”
Lampara says she’s also hearing that strawberry pricing isn’t increasing the way growers typically see at this point of the season.
“There is some indication from larger wholesalers or retailers that they’re actually seeing American consumers buying less of these expensive fruits and produce,” she says.
That comes at a tough time, with production costs already rising, she says.
While an operation in the news will cease production on six fields, Lampara says that in her conversations with the Ventura County agriculture commissioner, “she’s actually said to some of our local reporters that she just hopes that this is not the start of more closures.”
The “Economics of the Acre” report has started a conversation about what agricultural economic indicators the industry needs to focus on and track, as gross revenue is not a clear indicator of financial sustainability.
“First, we have to be tracking the right thing because what you track is what you can change,” Lampara says.
Layered Regulations and Shifting Consumer Habits Strain Agriculture
From there, Lampara hopes the conversation turns to the confluence of local, state and federal regulations that together have a bigger impact on specialty crop production.
“We need to start looking at how the regulations layer on top of each other and the layering drives how our costs are increasing exponentially,” she says.
Lampara says this continual squeeze is likely to have dire impacts on the county’s production.
“We really are at a precipice now with Ventura County ag that any increase in costs, no matter from what direction, could be what tips a farm into making the decision to close down at this point,” she says.
Lampara says she’s hearing from fifth- and sixth-generation farms considering selling off land to keep the family business afloat.
“That’s a bad place to be in,” she says. “I’m also hearing from multigenerational farmers that they’re starting to have the conversations that they may not be able to hang on to the farm to pass it down to the next generation.”
