572 farm workers jobs are on the chopping block after SoCal Berry Growers — the supplier for Driscoll’s — announced it will close six strawberry farms near Ventura and Oxnard in January next year.
“It’s the epicenter, I think, of one of the major production hubs of berries in America,” said David Cruz from the League of United Latin American Citizens, known as LULAC — the largest and oldest Latino civil rights organization.
“It’s sad to see this for these workers, many of them who have been employed for years and years in the fields – we don’t see their faces because they’re stooped over and they’re working long hours. Many of them arrive before the sun comes up and they work late into the evening to feed themselves and their families…