Ventura County strawberry grower closing 6 farms, laying off hundreds of farmworkers

OXNARD, Calif. (KABC) -- Ventura County's agriculture business is a multi-billion dollar industry. The 2025 Farm Report says Ventura County crops grossed $2.4 billion - about one third of that comes from strawberries.

So when SoCal Berry Growers submitted the required paperwork to shut down several of their fields in Oxnard and the surrounding areas of the county, that sent shock waves throughout the industry.

According to the Ventura County Farm Bureau and Agriculture Commissioner's office, around 570 farmworkers will be laid off when the fields close in January.

Louise Lampara, the CEO of the Ventura County Farm Bureau said according to the crop report, strawberries grossed $807 million, but it cost growers $815 million to grow the crop.

"We're already in an economic state where our top grossing crop is losing money. So this is only going to compound," Lampara said.

We reached out to SoCal Berry Growers for comment but haven't heard back.

This summer, workers at the farms voted to unionize with the United Farm Workers. We also reached out to the union and haven't heard back.

Oxnard Mayor Luis McArthur says he worries that the pending layoffs will have a ripple effect in his city.

"Other businesses including retail and contractors that depend on the function of those farms to work. It's going to affect them as well. So you could have secondary job losses because of that," McArthur said.

The city of Oxnard has a program to help workers transition into other industries. That help for laid-off farmworkers is available now to help them find good paying jobs.