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For Phase 2 of the project, the consultant team along with input from the Coordination Committee, and guidance from the Advisory Council:
- Developed a Survey Methodology which ensures that the anticipated 400-500 surveys include the right mix of farmworkers from various crop types, locations and agricultural businesses accurately representing the County’s agricultural industry;
- Created an effective Communications Plan for administering each survey type; and
- Designed the Surveys for farmworkers and employers, and the format for stakeholder interviews, all of which will be implemented in Phase 3.
Phase 3 of the project is nearly complete and implemented the following to gather community input. This information will be used to develop Phases 4 and 5 – the Countywide Farmworker Study; and identify key solutions through an Action Plan that each jurisdiction can undertake to develop more housing
1. Farmworker Surveys – Completed
BAE Urban Economics designed the farmworker survey with input and guidance from FRP staff, the Coordination Committee, and the Advisory Council, which focuses on questions related to current housing conditions and costs, future housing needs, income, and transportation, to name a few. The Ventura County Farmworker Resource program (FRP) staff pre-tested administering several versions of the survey questions in various languages. Besides the wording of the questions, their refinements improved the efficiency and ease of administering the survey within the target time of 30 minutes. In addition, the Coordination Committee finalized a surveyor training manual for uniform survey protocols and made arrangements for gift cards from local grocery stores to be provided to survey respondents.
Surveying began in May 2023 and was conducted through October 2023. A total of 418 farmworker surveys were completed which met the goal identified in the survey methodology developed in Phase 2. While several farms offered access to their workers, House Farm Workers!, along with the contacts in the Advisory Council, did an extensive outreach to local agricultural employers and contacted numerous growers, farm labor contractors and packing houses to ensure surveys were conducted to include all crops and County areas.
See this one-page handout in English and Spanish, summarizing key points related to the farmworker survey which were utilized during the interviews and at agricultural promotion events. In addition, FRP staff also prepared a video in multiple languages to introduce the survey, which was posted on FRP’s Facebook page, and distributed through other social media such as WhatsApp groups. Click on the videos to learn more about the surveying in your preferred language.
See the videos in:
 English video |
 Spanish video |
 Mixteco video |
 Purepecha video |
 Zapoteco video |
2. Employer Surveys – Completed
BAE Urban Economics developed an online employer survey, and all Ventura County agricultural employers were invited by the Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office, Ventura County Farm Bureau, and House Farm Workers! by email to take the survey beginning February 24, 2023. Several community partners in the County, such as the Avocado Commission, helped to spread the word to gather responses. A total of 40 employer surveys were collected during the survey implementation phase.
3. Stakeholder Interviews – Completed
BAE Urban Economics conducted one-on-one interviews with eight (8) key stakeholders to get their input on farmworker housing needs, the current housing situation in the County, opportunities to improve farmworker housing and agricultural labor needs.
4. Farmworker Focus Group Meeting - Completed
In mid-2023, the Ventura County Transporation Commission (VCTC) provided $25,000 in funding for an outreach event for the project where additional transportation information could be collected from local farmworkers. The Project Team, along with VCTC staff, designed on a Focus Group Meeting format for the event targeting maximum 40 farmworkers, and expanded the scope to include questions on housing and social services, in addition to transportation.
House Farm Workers! extended meeting invitations to local agricultural employers who had already accommodated surveying of their employees. In addition, the event details were carefully reviewed by the Project Team to ensure the location was central; the facility was familiar and had an adequate size for the anticipated activities and number of attendees; transportation would be available for those who needed it; the material would be easily understood; the event would be family-friendly; and incentives would be provided.
The Farmworker Focus Group Meeting was held in October 2023 at the Jose Flores Community Center in Saticoy, as it was central to the areas where most farmworkers lived or worked. Participants and their families were provided a catered dinner from a local restaurant, Santa Paula Art Museum hosted an art activity center for the families, and a cash incentive was provided to the participants at the end.
The County, House Farm Workers! and VCTC created visuals in the form of bilingual poster boards and collected real time responses from the participants on questions related to preliminary survey data, housing, and social services. In addition, the Project Team ensured that respondents had adequate language accessibility, and would be able to participate in their language of preference between Spanish, Mixteco, Purepecha, Zapoteco or English.
A total of 34 farmworkers attended the event along with their family members, making it over 80 people from the community in attendance. A summary of the event will be included in the Survey Summary Report for this Phase.
Current Status
BAE Urban Economics is currently in the process of compiling all survey data collected into a summary report, which will highlight the major findings of the farmworker and employer surveys, stakeholder interviews, as well as the Farmworker Focus Group Meeting, and will be included in the Countywide Farmworker Housing Study and Action Plan document.