Produce sans pesticides proves profitable for Ventura County, Calif., farmers

Maria Zate / Ventura County Star 16nov00

Mike Shore's organic citrus and avocado farm in Ojai is surrounded by weeds, the bane of most farmers but a telltale sign he's using organic growing methods, he said.

Weeds aside, he's all smiles when he talks about the healthy returns he's been getting from selling organic produce, though he declined to give any figures. "If I told you it would probably get a lot more people interested in organic farming," he said.

Shore admitted he's still new to the organic game, although he's been growing citrus and avocados in Santa Paula for 37 years using conventional farming methods. In 1995, he purchased 18 acres in Ojai to try his hand at growing organic avocados, oranges, tangerines, and persimmons. He sells his produce at the county's farmers markets and packs some for sale in the Los Angeles area.

What exactly is organic produce? The term organic refers to methods of growing and processing foods that rely on the earth's natural resources. For example, Shore doesn't use chemical weedkillers or synthetic fertilizers at his organic farm. To control weeds around trees, he uses mulch made from garden trimmings and wood scrap recycled from the nearby cities. His fertilizer is all natural, and he uses insects instead of pesticides to get rid of unwelcome bugs.

Interest in organic produce from farms like Shore's has been increasing in the past several years, said Karen Schott of the Ventura County Certified Farmer's Market Association, which operates four markets in the county.

About 15 percent of its vendors sell organic produce. "It's primarily younger families and people with health concerns who are most interested in organic produce, but more and more people are seeking out organic food. There's been a definite increase," Schott said, adding that the markets at The Oaks shopping center in Thousand Oaks and downtown Ventura each attract about 3,000 consumers weekly.

The farmers markets, as well as local restaurants and wholesale markets, are where the county's 40 registered organic farmers sell produce grown on nearly 3,000 acres. Organic crops "include all the crops in our crop report," said Alan Laird of the Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner's Office. The largest registered organic farm in the county is Purepak in Oxnard, he said.

Though the Commissioner's Office doesn't track gross sales figures for organic crops, the most recent statewide data shows organic crops from the South Coast region (which includes counties from Santa Barbara to San Diego) reaped $24.6 million in sales in 1998, an increase of 37 percent from the year before.

The data comes from a soon-to-be published study by Karen Klonsky at the University of California Agricultural Issues Center. AIC reported 484 registered organic growers for the South Coast, with a total of 7,000 acres farmed in 1998. Gross sales of all California organic produce increased 38 percent, from $113 million in 1995 to $156 million in 1998, the AIC study says. Total organic acreage in the state increased by 48 percent from 45,710 to 67,639.

While acreage and sales showed a notable increase, the number of California growers went up only 7 percent, from 1,425 to 1,526.

All organic farmers are required to register with their county agricultural commissioners, but having a certificate proving a farm and its produce follow organic standards is voluntary at this time. A federal law has yet to be passed requiring all organic farmers to be certified. For produce to be "certified organic," it must earn approval from a certifying agency.

There are 12 private and countywide certifiers in the state. One of the oldest private agencies is California Certified Organic Farmers, founded in 1973. CCOF has 967 members in California currently farming a total of 128,000 acres. It has 36 members in its South Coast Chapter — one of them is Shore.

"They inspect the farm and produce, do soil samples, and ask a bazillion questions," Shore said. But for the cost and trouble, certified organic produce has definite advantages, he added: "It's brought in more money and helped us ride out the times when other crop prices are depressed."