VENTURA COUNTY — Ventura County’s record $2.4 billion agricultural production value in 2025 masked a far more troubling number: growers of several of the county’s major crops spent more money to grow them than the crops were worth.
Strawberries, Ventura County’s number one crop, grossed $807 million in 2025. But Ventura County’s favorite berry cost growers every penny of that $807 million to produce, plus $8 million more. Lemons, a crop deeply embedded in Ventura County’s history and heritage, showed even worse returns, costing growers $203.5 million to receive $181.7 million in gross revenue.
Using production-cost data included in the County’s 2025 Crop & Livestock Report, a first for any Crop Report in California, Farm Bureau of Ventura County estimates that real net return across the county’s major commodity groups has collapsed approximately 80% since 2015.
“Ventura County agriculture still looks healthy from the road,” said Louise Lampara, CEO of Farm Bureau of Ventura County. “The fields are planted, the orchards are green, the crops are growing. And that’s exactly the problem: the landscape is hiding what’s happening underneath it.”
Agricultural Commissioner Korinne Bell included production-cost estimates in the 2025 Crop & Livestock Report to offer insight into the industry’s economic health and provide much-needed context beyond gross production values. Yet the record $2.4 billion dominated media coverage and public discussion, while the economic warning contained in the same report received little attention.
The decline cannot be explained by disappearing farmland. Countywide irrigated acreage is up approximately 3% since 2015. Farmland isn’t disappearing. What’s disappearing is the revenue remaining after it’s farmed.
“We didn’t lose ag land to a developer,” Lampara said. “We’re losing farming to policy. And the resulting economics show a spiraling collapse.”
More information is available at economicsoftheacre.org
About Farm Bureau of Ventura County
The Farm Bureau of Ventura County is a member-driven organization dedicated to promoting and protecting agriculture through advocacy, education, and community engagement. FBVC works to ensure the long-term viability of agriculture in Ventura County by representing the interests of farmers, ranchers, and agricultural businesses.