Mushroom Grower Notes 5th Year in Ventura

In October, 1987, the Pictsweet division of United Foods Inc. bought three mushroom farms out of bankruptcy, one of them a 50-acre operation on Olivas Park Drive in Ventura. The move saved 350 Ventura County jobs.

This month, as United observes the fifth anniversary of its venture into mushrooms, 200 of those who worked on the Ventura farm in 1987 are still there. Overall employment remains at 350, though production is up considerably.

Thanks to increased efficiency, the Ventura farm now produces 400,000 pounds of fresh mushrooms a week, according to John D. Haltom, president of United’s Pictsweet Mushroom Farms division, based in Bells, Tenn. The mushrooms are shipped daily to customers in Southern California, Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Haltom attributed much of the farm’s productivity and employment stability to a profit-sharing plan that pays workers a bonus equal to 20% of net profits.

“Furthermore, our workers are employed year-round,” Haltom said. “Mushrooms are not a seasonal crop.”

Haltom said Pictsweet, whose other mushroom farms are in Oregon and Utah, is now the nation’s fourth largest mushroom producer.