The climate in California’s Ojai Valley has been ideal for citrus, but that climate is changing—getting windier, drier, and hotter. A recent study showed that Ventura County’s temperature has warmed more in the last 125 years than any other county in the lower 48 states, as Lisa Morehouse reports in FERN’s latest story, produced in partnership with KQED’s California Report. The corresponding rise of wildfires and drought has caused some Ojai growers to fallow orchards; farmers estimate at least 15 percent fewer acres in production now than a decade ago. County officials are concerned enough that they’re partnering with the local Farm Bureau and the Nature Conservancy to evaluate threatened farmland in Ojai and across the county.
Some farmers are questioning whether agriculture even has a future in the Ojai Valley. Ojai is surrounded by orchards, some olive and avocado but mostly citrus. Ojai’s ag production numbers can’t compare with other parts of Ventura County — the Oxnard Plain and the Santa Clara River Valley — but it’s iconic among citrus lovers, known for producing high-quality Valencia oranges, originally, and more recently the Ojai Pixie tangerine. Most orchards are family-owned, and individual plots are small, 40 acres or fewer.