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Ventura County's 2025 crop report: $2.4 billion in gross production, but rising costs squeeze growers
Summary
Agricultural Commissioner Karen Bell presented the 2025 Ventura County Crop & Livestock Report, which shows $2.4 billion in gross revenue but rising input costs that left several major crops operating at little or no profit; the Board received and filed the report.
Karen Bell, Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner, told the Board the 2025 Crop & Livestock Report aims to show not only gross revenue but the costs that growers shoulder. "We are at $2.4 billion," Bell said, but she quickly added that the headline number hides important detail about costs and margins.
Bell said the county used UC Davis methodology with local data to break down the top commodities into six cost buckets (labor, land, inputs, plant care, services and compliance). She singled out strawberries, reporting a 14% increase in value but noting "it actually cost $0.01 more to grow strawberries in Ventura County" in 2025. Lemons, she said, produced a $0.12 loss per fruit after accounting for costs.
The report ranked the top ten commodities: strawberries, avocados, nursery stock, raspberries, lemons, celery, blackberries, peppers, blueberries and cilantro, and noted the county had 98,470 acres of irrigated farmland in 2025. Bell highlighted labor as the largest cost driver across crops and called out the effect of pests, quarantine areas and shifting acreage on future supply and farm decisions.
Supervisor Long said the breakdown clarifies why growers can appear profitable on paper while effectively operating at a loss: "If we don't grow here, we're growing somewhere else where we don't have the controls of pesticides and so forth," he said, urging the Board to consider support measures. Farm Bureau speaker Luis Lampara told supervisors his organization is ready to partner with the county on policy and permitting reforms to help growers sustain production.
The board voted to receive and file the report. Several supervisors asked staff to pursue ongoing, peer-reviewed annual reporting and to explore strategies that could reduce costs or expand market opportunities for local growers.
The Board accepted the report and the public comment that followed; no formal policy decision beyond receiving and filing the report was taken at this meeting.
