George Kibby has been running South Coast Farms with his wife, Rebecca Kibby, since 1996, providing a local option for fresh produce, especially strawberries.
But lately, due to unprecedented inclement weather, a recent move and the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the farm is looking a bit different this year. It’s had to downsize tremendously, both in crops and employees. South Coast Farm, as it grapples with financial struggles, had to lay off a third of its employees in Dec. 2023 for the first time since opening over 25 years ago.
Situated in San Juan Capistrano off of Ortega Highway, the farm specializes in strawberries for the community. Most of South Coast’s harvest is typically sold at farmer’s markets across Orange County and at a stand in Dana Point. These operate in the spring and summer months.
Because strawberries can’t grow in the cold, the farm typically closes during the winter and reopens in February, said George Kibby. However, this year, the farm may not open again until the summer.
“We are limping through this with the hope all farmers have of a better year to come,” said Kibby. “Our losses these past few years, losses due to bad weather and bad decisions on my part, have really eaten into our cash reserves and threatened our ability to continue farming.”
South Coast’s harvest has been delayed by about 45 to 60 days compared to other farms, mainly because of colder weather patterns in the area, Kibby said. Unlike many other Orange County farms, South Coast does not have the benefit of alluvial soils, which is extremely fertile soil that is typically found closer to the ocean. Due to South Coast’s location in the Santa Ana mountains, the soil is rockier and freezes easier.
Last winter and spring, Southern California experienced a very unusually wet year. Freezes in late winter “wreaked havoc” on the Kibbys’ strawberry crops, he said, costing about $180,000 in losses.
And then there was the flash flood in March 2023 that washed away half of the year’s strawberry crop, Kibby said. This cost the farm about $75,000.
South Coast Farm’s crop is about 90% strawberries and the rest is seasonal produce, according to Kibby. Strawberries are the second most produced crop in the county, according to the Orange County Farm Bureau, racking in just over $19.5 million annually.
“The challenges of farming are well known,” said Kibby. “As the old timers used to say: ‘too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet, too much dirt.’”
“We went back in and reworked the soil and replanted,” said Kibby about last winter, “but yields were poor, even by our low standards. It only takes a single weather event to destroy a crop, and then that season is over.”
The University of California Agricultural and Natural Resources division tracks weather patterns in Coto de Caza, just about three miles away from the farm.
In January 2022, UCANR recorded about 0.03 inches of rainfall, drastically less than the 4.63 inches recorded in January 2023. In March 2022, 1.84 inches of rainfall was recorded compared to 8.78 inches a year later.
Weather is not the only challenge the farm is facing, though. Kibby said that costs have been on the rise since the pandemic, especially with farming becoming an “increasingly rare skill.”
“I know people associate farm work with manual labor, but skills are required in pruning trees, vines and tomatoes, too,” said Kibby. “Knowing how to care for crops properly allows the crop to produce to its maximum potential. In the end, that is all a farmer can do: prepare the crop for maximum potential and wait and see.”
Jose Arriaga, Orange County’s agricultural commissioner, said this lack of labor availability in fieldwork has been noticeable over the past year.
“A lot of strawberry fieldwork is very intensive,” said Arriaga. “We do see a struggle to find workers who are willing and able.”
As challenges continue to accumulate, Kibby said the farm had to make the “very difficult decision to lay employees off” in December.
“I should have let a few of my full-time fellows go last winter when it was becoming obvious costs were running away from income,” said Kibby. “But I couldn’t do it. You go to these friends’ children’s quinceañeras, their weddings. You help them through divorces and legal issues. You consider them family.”
Outside support from the federal Department of Agriculture has been hit-and-miss, according to Kibby.
In 2023, the USDA rolled out a program designed to help specialty crop growers after the COVID-19 pandemic, called the Pandemic Assistance Revenue Program. Kibby applied for max payout from this program, which totaled $125,000, and was accepted soon after. However, requests for assistance under PARP far exceeded the funds available, said USDA spokesperson Brooke Raffaele, and USDA had to put a cap on how much funding farms could get. South Coast Farms ended up receiving only $11,875.
“That was very disappointing,” said Kibby. “We counted on that money, even sent in a tractor for extensive repairs. We had no way to pay for the repairs which amounted to $23,000.”
With support from the community, including through a GoFundMe, Kibby says he hopes the farm can reopen in March, but still, it might not be able to reopen until the summer months. As of Monday, Feb. 5, the couple’s fundraiser has brought in more than $51,000.
With the money, Kibby said the farm will be able to invest in “eco-friendly initiatives that preserve the land and promote biodiversity” as well as “repair the tractor, get an upgraded cooler and new greenhouse for transplant growing and finish overall vehicle and machinery maintenance.”
“The future in farming, and of any farm, is always in doubt,” said Kibby. “Ours is no different. There is so much outside of one’s control. That is just the way it is and should be.”
“But we have had a great run farming locally, and it has been a privilege to do so.”
