572 farm workers jobs are on the chopping block after SoCal Berry Growers — the supplier for Driscoll's — announced it will close six strawberry farms near Ventura and Oxnard in January next year.
"It's the epicenter, I think, of one of the major production hubs of berries in America," said David Cruz from the League of United Latin American Citizens, known as LULAC — the largest and oldest Latino civil rights organization.
"It's sad to see this for these workers, many of them who have been employed for years and years in the fields - we don't see their faces because they're stooped over and they're working long hours. Many of them arrive before the sun comes up and they work late into the evening to feed themselves and their families.
"This is a hard economic blow, not just to Ventura County, but the coast and state," said Cruz.
Strawberries are Ventura County’s most valuable crop with over $807 million worth of sales in 2025 – which sounds a lot, but that was outweighed by production costs which reached $815.1 million, and water costs and labor costs have risen. Cruz says the reasons for the closures are complex.
"Some of it because of climate, some of it because of the trade disparities. There's no one party to blame here," said Cruz. But he says it's hard to compete with the price of imported produce, which he claims doesn't have the same level of quality.
"When you look at the inspection rates of imported produce, there's a glaring gap there. And if we're going to accept that, to give consumers a food basket they can afford, we must make sure that that food is safe and that it's being properly inspected, and if that doesn't happen, then no, it's not a fair situation and growers here and labor and the entire infrastructure is going to be dealing with a no-win situation," he said.
"I know the numbers may seem like just because they're billions, these guys must be making millions or billions of dollars, but the reality is very different. Growers are actually losing money per acre per crop," said Cruz.
Cruz says federal relief is needed.
"I know that the word subsidies may offend some people, but the reality is that the people who are feeding us are facing some very difficult circumstances."
He says he’s hopeful LULAC can help navigate talks aimed at finding a solution which can save these farms and the jobs of the workers, but it requires growers, farm workers, and elected leaders to come together and he wants to encourage dialogue between the parties.
"I feel for the growers. I feel for the workers. And I think that we as stakeholders in this community need to come together. And LULAC is encouraging the leadership of labor, the growing industry, our port and our city elected leaders and county elected leaders to come together.
"No one wins when you're laying off hundreds of people who have been doing everything they can to nourish our country," he said.
And he says, if these farms close and nearly 600 families lose their paychecks, the loss will be felt by all of us on every grocery store trip and at every dinner table.
