
The year 2020 brought several things into sharp focus about the importance of agriculture to the County of Ventura. The COVID 19 pandemic pointed out how vulnerable and extraordinarily essential the 40,000 hardworking people who faithfully kept coming to work are to not only the residents of Ventura, but to people throughout the world. They kept the food, clothing, landscaping, and agricultural systems moving despite many new challenges and changes in our society. They did all this while not only worrying about how to provide food and shelter for their families, but also keeping them safe through rapidly changing work and social conditions.