Organic Farming Gains, but Land Values Make It Rough in Orange County

By Jeff Rowe, The Orange County Register, Calif.

Apr. 26–Pressed by developers, challenged by science and bullied by lower-cost foreign competitors, it’s perhaps never been a tougher time to be farming in Orange County.

And as more and more Orange County farmland gets swallowed up by buildings, growing demand for organic products offers a way for farmers to till small plots hemmed in by development and restricted from using many traditional pesticides.

“Demand is surging,” notes Ed Haft, chief executive of Sunrise Growers in Placentia, which wants organic farming to be a “significant” portion of its business in coming years.

A shift to organic methods is emerging locally, with only a few growers working a total of about 60 of the roughly 7,000 acres of farmland remaining in the county.

Organic farming represents about 2 percent of the national farm output but sales of organic food products are rising 10 percent to 30 percent a year, according to the Santa Cruz-based Organic Farming Research Foundation.

Stringent rules govern what fertilizers and other chemicals organic growers may use and even enthusiastic backers of such farming acknowledge yields can be less than half that of conventional farming.

Typically, that diminished yield and higher costs for organic fertilizer are at least partially offset by the higher prices organic products command.

For a farmer, going organic is a mix of philosophy, science, economics, competition and consumer tastes.

“I did not feel right using all the chemicals,” said George Kibby, who farms about 30 acres he leases from San Juan Capistrano.

Moreover, he said, given increasing foreign competition, it was increasingly difficult to compete in the conventional food marketplace.

Kibby is one of about 2,200 organic farmers in California among the 78,000 conventional farmers in the state.

To qualify as an organic farm, the grower not only must refrain from using most chemicals, but they also must establish that the land has been purged of pesticide residue. Weeding becomes a constant chore.

In Orange County, the push for organic agriculture comes as the pace of development is quickening, thanks to insatiable demand for houses and a growing economy. Open spaces were also lost due to the conversion of old military bases, which used to lease hundreds of acres to farmers and, in effect, preserved nearby farmland because of restrictions on building near bases.

Hundreds of acres on and around the old El Toro base already have been lost to developments; hundreds more will come out of production as the Great Park and surrounding acres are developed.

Growth and building in Orange County have cut the amount of local farmland by 97 percent from about 257,000 acres in 1946, according to the county agriculture commissioner.

The great human migration to Orange County began after World War II and by 1984, just 30,708 acres were in agriculture.

In addition to fruits and vegetables, about 2,500 acres are devoted to horticulture, the raising of bushes and trees for houses and business.

Only an increase in nursery stock values, fed by demand from developments, kept Orange County’s total farming revenue from falling this past year, according to figures recently released by the county agriculture commissioner. Sales of ornamental plants rose 14 percent to $240.6 million.

But sales for the county’s leading food crop, strawberries, fell 15 percent to $53.4 million as about 200 acres were lost to development. Just 93 acres remain of the county’s iconic crop, oranges.

While organic growing techniques may allow Orange County to hang onto remnants of farming, for some the run-up in land costs has been too severe even for the highest organic prices to offset. They’ve moved inland.

Donna Buono of San Clemente farms 20 acres south of Temecula, land she bought five years ago. She grows lettuce, macadamias, avocados, grapefruit, beets, chard, cilantro and other vegetables and fruits, some of which she sells directly to customers on a weekly route in San Clemente.

“I work so hard and there is so little profit,” says Buono. “But I keep doing it because I love it and I think I’m going to come up with a better way.”

Zainab Ibrahim, a visiting journalist from Sri Lanka, contributed to this report.

TOP THREE CROPS IN O.C.

Compared with 2004 Nursery stock: $241 million, up 14 percent

Tree fruits and berries: $53 million, down 14 percent

Vegetables: $17 million, down 9 percent

Source: Orange County Agriculture Commissioner

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