Oxnard Sugar Beets: Ventura County's Lost Cash Crop

In the early 1890s, farmers Albert Maulhardt and John Edward Borchard discovered Ventura County s favorable conditions for a highly profitable new cash crop: the sugar beet. Not long after inviting sugar mogul Henry T. Oxnard to the area, construction began on a $2 million sugar factory capable of processing two thousand tons of beets daily. The facility brought jobs, wealth and the Southern Pacific rail line. It became one of the country s largest producers of sugar, and just like that, a town was born. Despite the industry s demise, the city of Oxnard still owes its name to the man who delivered prosperity. A fifth-generation descendant, local author and historian Jeffrey Wayne Maulhardt details the rise and fall of a powerful enterprise and the entrepreneurial laborers who helped create a city."