Ventura County farms generated $2.4 billion in agricultural production last year, a 4% increase over 2024, according to the Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office. However, behind the record-setting total, many growers are seeing shrinking profit margins as rising labor, regulatory and production costs outpace revenues.

Challenges Facing Growers

The Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office presented its 2025 Crop and Livestock Report to the Board of Supervisors on June 23, emphasizing not just gross production value but also the cost of producing those crops. Officials warned that tightening profit margins and the spread of Huanglongbing, or HLB—a fatal citrus disease spread by the invasive Asian citrus psyllid that infects trees and eventually kills them—are raising long-term concerns about the county’s agricultural future.

Strawberries remained Ventura County’s top crop at nearly $808 million, up 14% from 2024. But the higher production value did not translate into stronger profits, with growers effectively seeing no net gain after increased costs. Lemons provided another example of tightening margins. The crop’s value rose 54% to nearly $182 million because of a strong harvest, but growers still lost about 12 cents of every dollar after expenses.

Impact on Local Economy

Ventura County Supervisor Kelly Long said the report underscores the need to protect local agriculture and raise awareness about farmland and water infrastructure. “We need healthy communities. We need local food,” Long said, adding that many residents do not realize how much farmland surrounds them or how quickly it could disappear.

The discussion also focused on HLB, which Long called a serious threat that residents need to better understand. Agricultural Commissioner Korinne Bell said the county’s quarantine zone has not expanded, but additional infected residential citrus trees have been found in Santa Paula, with cases slowly moving east.

Original reporting: Thousand Oaks Acorn — read the source article.