Strawberry Growers Flee North

Santa Barbara County may see an influx of strawberry cultivators fleeing Ventura County to avoid the impacts of new air quality regulations designed to keep air-born fumigants out of the atmosphere. The new rules-which just went into effect-only apply to counties failing to meet state air quality standards. Because Santa Barbara meets these standards-and Ventura doesn’t-many Ventura growers are expected to move north.