FARM—Steep Job Cuts for Struggling Farm

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In a struggle to stay in business, 86-year-old Boskovich Farms Inc. has been forced to lay off 150 people with up to 250 more expected to be let go in the coming months in a new round of cutbacks, company officials said.

The Oxnard-based produce grower, which was founded on five acres in North Hollywood in 1915, is one of California’s largest commodities producers based on acreage. But like other California farmers, the company faces some of the toughest years in the industry.

“It’s for economic reasons we did that,” said Jerry Pogorzelski, vice president and chief financial officer of the family-owned company. “I don’t want to go into it for negative press, but it’s a financial thing. Basically we’re re-evaluating our business to try to stay viable.”

Boskovich Farms now employs about 300 in Oxnard and Camarillo. It is in the process of closing a plant in Salinas and selling off $3 million in equipment, according to Charles Dickerson, head of C.F. Dickerson Inc., the New Mexico company auctioning off the equipment Dec. 4 and 5 in Salinas. Boskovich had a total work force of 800 last year.

The company is also outsourcing all of its harvesting by taking bids from labor contractors in the area, Pogorzelski said.

Martha Mayorga, personnel administrator for Boskovich Farms, said the company has had to reduce its work force to keep it from bankruptcy.

While the company has always had hundreds of seasonal employees, the most recent cutbacks are permanent, she said. The company has never had to outsource harvesting crews and close a plant before, she said.

Boskovich Farms had equity of more than $6 million in 1999, according to a credit rating service that focuses on the produce industry. That’s down from $18 million in 1998 and almost $22 million in 1995.

With 16,000 acres in California, Arizona and Baja California, Boskovich Farms is one of the larger farms in the state. The average California farm is about 434 acres, according to the California Farm Bureau.

Boskovich Farms produces and distributes mixed vegetables, strawberries and fresh-cut produce to retailers such as Costco Wholesale Corp. and major grocery chains.

But Boskovich Farms’ financial struggles are not unique.

“It’s been very tough in the last two to three years no question,” said Bob Krauter, spokesman for the California Farm Bureau.

Among the biggest challenges facing farmers are lower profits caused by increased consolidation in the retail business, especially among grocery chains.

“There’s fewer buyers,” said Linda Stine, president of the Fresh Produce & Floral Council in Buena Park. “Where there might have been 20 buyers before, now there’s maybe four. If several supermarket chains have integrated where there were two buyers, now there’s one.”

In addition, California farmers have increasingly faced competition from overseas, Krauter said. Foreign producers can sell commodities cheaper than local farmers, he said.

And the costs of running a farm labor, energy, regulations have skyrocketed, he said.

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