BusinessSection E

Sunday, September 7, 2014

■ America’s jobmarket may look strongcompared to Europe’s, butby some measures Europeis doing better. 2A

By Carol Lawrenceclawrence@vcstar.com805-437-0235

Hortau Inc.’s remote irriga-tion management system ismaking the challenging butcritical task of judging howmuch water to use on crops alittle easier forVenturaCountygrowers.

The Quebec, Canada, com-pany is also aggressively pro-moting its system as a watersavings tool at a time whennew mandates and fees aremaking growers watch theirwater use more closely thanever before.

“It is a precision farmingtool,” said soil physicist JocelynBoudreau,Hortau’s co-founderand CEO. The system, whichmeasures soil moisture, “hasbeen shown to decrease waterusage 20 to 35 percent,” Bou-dreau said, while also increas-ing plant yield.

PHOTOS BY JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR

Will Gerry, owner Coastal California Blueberry in Camarillo, accesses information on the Hortau irrigation management system from his cellularphone. The system measures the amount of water moisture and content of the soil, which allows Gerry to decide how much water to give to the field.

Will Gerry,ownerCoastalCaliforniaBlueberry,uses theHortauirrigationmanagementsystem,whichmeasuresthe amountof watermoisture andcontent ofthe soil.

By Candice ChoiAssociated Press

NEW YORK —Behind thoseBigMacs andWhoppers isa hidden drama over cor-porate control.

The fast-food industryis underpinned by an oftentense relationshipbetweencompanies likeMcDonald’sand Burger King and thefranchisees who run theirrestaurants.Fewcustomers

thinkaboutthiswhenscarf-ing downburgers.

Around the country,union organizers arepushing to make McDon-ald’s take responsibility forhowworkers are treated atits franchised restaurants.And in California, a billcould soongiveall franchi-sees greater protections,including stricter rules onwhen companies can ter-minate their agreements.

The moves highlightthe tensions in a businessmodel that has long beenconsidered an attractiveway to start a business. Inexchange for an upfront

investment and ongoingfees, aspiring businessowners get to capitalizeon popular brands peopletrust. To protect their im-ages, companies dictateterms like kitchen equip-ment, worker uniformsandmenu offerings.

The problem, franchi-see advocates say, is thatcompanies can strip fran-chiseesof their livelihoodsfor violating any contractterms, even ifminor. Thatcan leave franchisees feel-ingpowerless andafraid tospeak up.

Anuneasy relationship■ Franchisees,fast-food firmsoften at odds

Acres of blueberries, grown at Coastal California Blueberry, use the Hortau irrigation management system.The system, which can be accessed from a computer, cellular phone or mobile device, is able to sendinformation about the moisture, humidity and other soil conditions.

■ Hortau soil-monitor tool takes guesswork out of irrigation

The Quebec, Canada, company is also aggressively promoting its system asa water savings tool at a time when new mandates and fees are makinggrowers watch their water use more closely than ever before.

See HORTAU, 3E

ANSWERLIES

DIRTINTHE

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kathryn Slater-Carter, a McDonald’s owner in California, saidshe felt McDonald’s treated her and her husband unfairly bynot renewing their lease agreement, citing her husband’sfailure to attend non-mandatory meetings.See FOOD, 3E

WA SHINGTON — Everytime one of my childrensays, “Back in your day,”I wince.

After watching an oldblack-and-white sitcom,my son actually askedmeif there was color televi-sion back in my day. Hissisters thought it wasfunny. Me? Not so much.

I will say this. Back inthe day, retirement wasa lot less complicated. Itwas pretty much blackand white — simple. Itry not to curse, but se-riously, retirement plan-ning these days will takeyou there. Figuring outall the various parts andrules of Medicare alonerequires a bottle of as-pirin and some choicewords.

There are a lot of bookson retirement planning.I attempt to find onesthat will cut through theclutter of confusion andhelp reduce the head-ache-inducing work re-quired to get to the nextstage of your life. Forthis month’s Color ofMoney Book Club selec-tion, I’ve chosen “TheCharles Schwab Guideto Finances After Fifty:Answers to Your MostImportant Money Ques-tions” by Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz with JoanneCuthbertson ($25, CrownBusiness). Both authorsare certified financialplanners

“For many of us, it isn’tuntil about age 45 or 50that the impending re-ality of retirement hitshome,” Schwab-Pomer-antz writes. “So the firstthing to realize is thatyou’re not alone.”

Indeed, you are not.A Federal Reserve

report found that manyhouseholds are not pre-pared for retirement.“Thirty-one percentof non-retired respon-dents reported havingno retirement savingsor pension, including 19percent of those ages 55to 64,” the Fed said in re-leasing its latest data onthe economic well-beingof U.S. households.

“Almost half of respon-dents reported havinggiven little or no thoughtto retirement savings,and of those who have,many either do not planto retire, expect to keepworking into retirementto pay for expenses, or donot know how they willpay for their retirement.”

Schwab-Pomerantzand Cuthbertson, whois publishing directorat Schwab, have put to-gether a comprehensiveguide that will help youplan for retirement.The focus is on the 50-plus crowd, but there’ssomething for every-one. Schwab-Pomerantzstarts out by listing hertop 10 financial recom-mendations for everyage. The tips are simple— track your spending,

Retiringin future?This bookmay help

See SINGLETARY, 4E

MICHELLESINGLETARY

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T H E S TA R « Sunday, September 7, 2014 « 3E

Business

C A L A B A SA S

Businesswomenwill host luncheon

The eWomenNetworkCalabasas Chapter willhost the eWomenNetworkAccelerated NetworkingLuncheon from 11:30 a.m.to 2p.m. Sept. 17 at theCal-abasas CountryClub, 4515Park Entrada. Doors willopen at 11 a.m. for informalnetworking.

Cathy Alessandra willdiscuss “Platforms forProfit: The Must HaveMarketing Strategies forOutrageous Success.”

Cost is $55 nonmem-bers and $45 for members

before Friday. BeginningFriday, cost will be $65.

For more information,call Carrie Sharpshair at532-2249 or email Carrie-Sharpshair@eWomenNet-work.com.V E N T U R A CO U N T Y

Seminar will focuson documentation

LightGabler LLP is pre-senting a free seminar,“Paper is the Employer’sBest Friend,” focusing ondocumentation strategiesthat address potentialproblems in employer/employee relationships.

The seminar will take

place from 7:30-9 a.m.Tuesday at Courtyard byMarriott, 600 E. EsplanadeDrive in Oxnard and from7:30-9 a.m. Sept. 23 at BestWesternPosadaRoyaleHo-tel at 1775 Madera Road inSimi Valley. A continentalbreakfastwill be served.

Reservations are re-quired at least 24 hoursin advance. Call 248-7089or email seminars@light-gablerlaw.com.

To share news about yourcompany or business-relatedorganization, email dajuste-sen@vcstar.com. If there is anevent involved, please emailthe information at least threeweeks in advance.

CO N E J O VA L L E Y

Chamber choosessales manager

Heather Macaulay, ofNewbury Park, has beenhired asmembership salesmanager of the GreaterConejo Valley Chamberof Commerce.

Macaulay has an un-dergraduate degree fromCSU Channel Islands andamaster’s fromCaliforniaLutheran University.

The chamber is the offi-cial chamber forThousandOaks, Westlake VillageandAgouraHills. Formoreinformation, visit http://www.conejochamber.orgor call 370-0035.O JA I

Music festival picksboard president

The Ojai Music Festi-val boardof directorsnamed Da-vid Nygrenpresident ofthe boardofdirectors.

Nygren,a Santa Bar-bara resi-dent, hasserved on the board since2011.He is the founder andCEOofNygrenConsultingLLC, which specializes inmergers and acquisitions,board effectiveness, or-ganizational strategy andexecutive competency as-sessment. Nygrenwas theexecutive vice president atDePaul University.

The festival also wel-comed James P. Drummyand Carol Nygren to theboard.

Drummy is a principal

at the law firm of Poin-dexter & Doutre Inc. indowntown Los Angeles.He received his BachelorofArts fromUCLA in 1970and Juris Doctorate fromthe UC Berkeley Schoolof Law in 1973. Drummyspecializes in real estateand probate and trust lawand represents a numberof nonprofits.

Carol Nygren, DavidNygren’s sister-in-law, isthe senior vice presidentand general manager ofin: ciite Media. She hasalso served as executivevice president and man-aging director of LiveEventManagement Inc., adivision ofHarperCollinsChristian Publishing, a di-vision of NewsCorp; andas senior vice president oflicensed live family enter-tainment at the Walt Dis-ney Co.

For more informationabout the festival, visithttp://OjaiFestival.org orcall 646-2053.OX N A R D

Pods moves officeto new location

Pods of Tri-Counties, amoving and storage pro-vider, has moved to a newfacility.

The 65,000-square-footclimate-controlled facilityisat301S.RoseAve.,Suite4.

For more informationabout Pods of Tri-Coun-ties, visit http://www.mylocalpods.com.SA N TA B A R B A R A

Ojai Communitygets OK to open site

Ojai Community Bankhas received regulatory

approval to open an officeas Santa BarbaraCommu-nityBank.Thenewfacilitywill operate as a divisionof Ojai Community Bank.

In addition, the bankhas entered into a leasefor part of the historicadobe in downtown SantaBarbara. The new officewill be at 21 E. Carrillo St.,Suite 160.

Ojai Community Bankhas headquarters in Ojaiand has two other divi-sions: Santa Paula Com-munity Bank and VenturaCommunity Bank. OjaiCommunity Bank wasfounded in 2005 and hasabout$154million inassetsand $16million in capital.V E N T U R A

Tolman & Wiker getsinsurance award

For the seventh year ina row, Tolman & WikerInsurance Services wasnamed one of InsuranceJournal’s Top 100 Prop-erty/Casualty Agencies.

The report ranks thenation’s leading privatelyheld independent proper-ty and casualty insuranceagencies, by total agencyrevenue and lists only pri-vately owned firmswhosebusiness is primarily re-tail, not wholesale, insur-ance brokerage.

For more information,visit http://www.tolma-nandwiker.comor contacttheofficeat 585-6100or 196S. Fir St.

To share news about yourcompany or business-relatedorganization, email dajuste-sen@vcstar.com. If there is anevent involved, please emailthe information at least threeweeks in advance.

Nygren

Business happenings

Business briefs

Anything that can helpgrowers reduce wateruse without hurting fruitand vegetable production— the key crops in thecounty’s $2 billion-plusagriculture industry—at-tracts attention during thecurrent drought.

Hortau says it has 20 to30 customers in VenturaCounty alone, and that itsCalifornia business hasgrown so much that it hasopened an office in SanLuisObispoand is expand-ing across the country.

“We’ve been operatingbehind the scenes up untilthis drought, when all of asuddenwe became hyper-focused,” said JeremyOtto,Hortau’sbusinessdevelop-ment manager.

A recent $6.5 million inventure capital from anagriculture-oriented pri-vateequityfirmhelpedpayfor this year’s expansion,helped along by the third-year drought conditions.

Plants need water, butonly a certain amount.Too little water and theygo into water stress fromdry soil, saysHortau.Theybecome more vulnerableto heat stress, effects fromsalt andpests, andproduceless.

Too much water andplants suffer from a lackof oxygen, causing themto produce more vegeta-tion but less fruit, or vege-tables. They are alsomoresusceptible to rootdisease,says Hortau’s brochure.

Hortau’s system worksby installing sensors intothe soil among the rootsof plants and under them.The sensors thenmeasurehowmuch effort the rootshave to exert to pull waterfrom the soil.

“The sensor acts like amechanical root that tellsthe grower when to runthat irrigation, and how tomanage crop stress,whichis a driver in quality andyield,” Otto said.

Growers can then readthat data in real-time onmobile devices or onHor-tau’s website. Graphs andcurves, which are easyto read, say the growers,show them whether soilsand plants are in the wetzone, which means theyare over watering; the dryzone, which means underwatering or in the comfortzone, where all is good.

That information is“crucial” for Will Gerry’s170 acres of blueberriesthat grow in Camarilloat his Coastal CaliforniaBlueberry Farm. He in-stalled Hortau’s system in

July 2012.“Blueberries are very

sensitive to moisture,”Gerry said. “They hate tobe dry, but don’t like wetfeet or over watering. It(the system) is helping usbe more precise and keepthat plant in its happyzone.”

He accesses the systemsix to 10 times a day,Gerrysaid, and at night to planwhat todo thenextday. It’salso helped himwater andfertilize more efficiently.

Several growers saythey use the system as aweather station becauseof its remote access capa-bility, and to call up priordays’ weather conditionsto see how their fields re-acted.

Among them is Rich-ard Martinez, who growsorganic celery and allsorts of leafy greens andherbs for Deardorff Fam-ily Farms on 450 acres inPiru, Santa Paula, Venturaand the Oxnard Plain.

He installedhisfirst sys-temabout a year and ahalfago, and just added sevenmore. He uses its temper-ature-sensing capabilitiesto monitor conditions atfields far away fromwherehe is at the moment.

“If I knowwhat the tem-perature is in Piru, and it’sreally hot and there’s lowhumidity, and I know if Ihave a crew harvestinglettuce there, I can tell theguys to stop harvesting,”Martinez said, to preventthe plants from dehydrat-ing.

Hortau’s system workswith every crop and soiltype, Otto said. The firstCalifornia customer wasan Oxnard strawberrygrower in 2008, but nowit’s used for avocados, cit-rus, vegetables, grapes andnuts.

Growers rent the equip-ment and can own it after

three years, Otto said.Monitoring stations costabout $175 per month for36months,which includesfield support, training,software and uploadingthe software.

After the three years,the grower pays only aservice fee of $35 to $75,depending on the numberof monitoring locations,and the services continue.

Oxnard strawberrygrowers Pal Halstead andWill Terry use the systemin conjunctionwith irriga-tionmanagers and/or irri-gationmanagement plans.Theyalso confirmthedatawithmanual tensiometers.

Several growers saythey arewateringmore ef-ficiently with the system,but not necessarily lessoverall.

Hortau co-founder JeanCaron, nowa soil physicistwith Laval University inQuebec, is researching soilcomfort zones for Hortauin key strawberry areas ofOxnard, Santa Maria andWatsonville.

Caron said growerswho over watered beforeinstalling the system arereducingwater by up to 35percent, although thosewhohadunder-watered—manyof theOxnard grow-ers— are watering more.

But, headded, if growersare irrigating consistentlyto keep soils in the sys-tem’s comfort zone, theycould see their water usego down.

“I knowwe aremore ef-ficient,” Gerry said. “Thatprobablymeans somewa-ter savings.”

HORTAUfrom 1E

JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR

The Hortau irrigation management system gives farmers away to measure the amount of water moisture and contentof the soil. The system is being used at Coastal CaliforniaBlueberry in Camarillo.

“It’s scary. People arekowtowed and they’reworried,” saidPeterLagar-ias, a lawyer in SanRafael,California,who representsfranchisees.

GROWING TENSIONSThe California bill

would amend a law to re-quire companies to showthere was a “substantialand material” breach be-fore terminating a con-tract. An existing statelaw allows terminationfor “good cause,” whichcan be any violation of thecontract.

It would also requirecompanies to give a fran-chisee back their businessor compensate them forits value if a contract waswrongfully terminated.Asit stands, companies onlyhave to pay franchiseesfor store inventory, whichwould be a fraction of thatamount.

Gov. Jerry Brown hasnot indicated whetherhe plans to sign the bill,whichwas passed byCali-fornia’s senate and assem-bly.He has until the end ofSeptember.

The International Fran-chise Association, whichis backed by companiesincluding McDonald’s,says the bill would resultin “countless frivolouslawsuits” and is unneces-sary because franchiseescan sue if they feel they’vebeen treated unfairly.It notes franchisees aregiven 30 days to fix viola-tions before a contract canbe terminated.

McDonald’s, whichowns 19 percent of itsmore than 35,000 restau-rants around theworldandaround 10 percent of thosein the U.S., says the Cali-fornia bill could weaken a

franchiser’s ability to en-force standards.

Kathryn Slater-Carter,a McDonald’s owner inCalifornia, said she spear-headed the bill after Mc-Donald’s decided not torenew the franchise agree-ment and lease on one ofher two restaurants. ShesaidMcDonald’s cited herhusband’s failure to attendmeetings for not renew-ing the agreement, eventhough only she was re-quired to attend. That lefther unable to sell the busi-ness, which she estimateswas worth $2 million.

“If they can do this tome, they can do this toanyone,” she said.

McDonald’s spokes-womanLisaMcCombsaidSlater-Carter’s agreementand lease simply expiredand that the companywasnot able to reach an agree-ment on a new lease withthe landlord.

While theCaliforniabillhinges largely on a fran-chiser’s right to enforcestandards, companies areseeking to maintain a lineof separation with theirfranchisees on anotherfront.

Labor organizers arepushing to hold McDon-ald’s accountable forwork-ing conditions at restau-rants, citing the controlthe company exerts overfranchisees. BothMcDon-ald’s and its franchiseeshave been named in law-suits on behalf ofworkers.

Lastmonth, union orga-nizerswon a victorywhenthe National Labor Rela-tions Board said McDon-ald’s could be named as ajoint employer in chargesfiled on behalf of workersover unfair labor prac-tices. McDonald’s said itwill fight the decision andthat it has no control overemployment decisions atfranchised restaurants.

The Service Employees

InternationalUnionalso isbacking theCalifornia bill.

POWER STRUCTUREMany states have no

laws regarding the ter-mination of franchiseeagreements, and the onesthat do vary in the protec-tions they provide. Thatcan leave franchisees atthe mercy of contracts,which often put all thepower in the hands ofcompanies, franchiseeadvocates say.

Corporate culturesvary, of course, withsome companies exertingmore control than others,said Robert Purvin, CEOof the American Associa-tion of Franchisees andDealers in Palm Desert,California. At Subway,for instance, franchiseesare in charge of buyingsupplies, so they knowthe company isn’t mark-ing up prices for cold cutsand lettuce.

Companies also oftenhave advisory councils togive franchisees a voice.Still, there are bound tobe disagreements giventhe nature of the businessmodel. Valuemenus are agood example.

Franchisers like Wen-dy’s get a percentage ofrestaurant sales no mat-ter what. Franchisees, bycontrast, have to thinkabout ingredient costsand worry low prices caneat into their profits. Thefriction can lead to dis-putes that land in court.

In 2009, Burger Kingfranchisees sued thecompany over a $1 doublecheeseburger they saidthey were losing moneyon.

The suit was settledafter 3G Capital boughtthe chain and worked tomend fractured relationswith franchisees. Theprice of the burger hassince gone up.

FOODfrom 1E

By David KoenigAssociated Press

DALLAS — You just spenta small fortune on airlinetickets — and the extracharges for the bags —for your family’s summervacation. All your flightswere packed with otherpassengers who also paidrichly for the ride.

Nowonder airline prof-its are sky-high.

Back home now, you

might ask if you can sharein the airlines’ good for-tunebybuying their stock.

The answer:maybe youcan, but youmissed thebigpayoff.

Airlines have beenamong the strongeststocks so far in 2014, eas-ilybeatingbroadmeasuressuch as the Standard &Poor’s 500 index and theDowJones industrial aver-age. Since late 2011, whenspeculation sproutedabout a merger betweenAmerican Airlines andUS Airways, the Arca air-line index has soared 186percent. During that timeframe,DeltaAir Lines Inc.

shares have risen fivefold,Southwest Airlines Co.shares have more thanquadrupled, and UnitedContinentalHoldings Inc.has nearly tripled. In thesame period, the S&P 500rose 68 percent, and theDow gained 48 percent.

Most U.S. airlines haverecovered fully from theone-two combination ofrecord-high oil prices andthe recession, which stag-gered them in 2008.

Profit at nine leadingU.S. airlines more thandoubled to $3.8 billion inthe first half of this year,comparedwith a year ear-lier.

Airline stocksamong strongest■ Arca indexis up 186%since late 2011

JOBS FOR OUR FUTURECome learn and share information abouthow business, education, governmentand labor are working together statewideand nationally to prepare for economicprosperity in the 21st century.

September 11, 20148 am – 12:30 pmVentura College, Performing Arts Center4700 Loma Vista Road, Ventura

To register, contact Kelly Noble, EDC-VC805-384-1800 x 21 or kelly.noble@edc-vc.com.

Speakers scheduled to appear include:

of Business and Economic Development

Conveners:

$50 registration fee, includes lunch

$25 student rate

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