Focus on Agriculture

KING CITY — King City High School FFA Chapter swept last week’s competition at Rancho San Juan High School in Salinas, taking home several first-place awards. The Jan. 19 contests in Cooperative Marketing Tests (CMT), Best Informed Greenhand (BIG) for freshman and Job Interview...

CASTROVILLE — The beloved Artichoke Festival, a cherished tradition in Monterey County for more than six decades, will not return this year. The festival’s board of directors announced its official closure after 65 years of celebrating the region’s rich agricultural heritage, artichoke royalty and community...

SALINAS VALLEY — Several dozen community members gathered for a news conference at the County Government Center in Salinas last Tuesday to release a new study that found that pregnant women in Monterey County are more likely to be exposed to far higher levels...

On May 18, the Salinas Valley Fair returns to King City for four days of family-friendly events, exhibits and activities.

KING CITY — Jeremiah Casey arrived in San Lucas, Calif., in 1861 as a young Irish immigrant. He started homesteading and ranching, raising beef, finishing them on grass and marketing them as best he could, given the limited resources at hand.  Back then, ranchers didn't...

MONTEREY COUNTY — Monterey County Supervisors Luis Alejo and Chris Lopez will be conducting a special honoring of living Bracero workers who reside in Monterey County at the Sept. 12 Board of Supervisors meeting in Salinas as part of the first-ever “Bracero History Recognition...

Editor’s Note: The following profile is an excerpt from Amy Wu’s upcoming book, “From Farms to Incubators: Women Innovators Revolutionizing How Our Food is Grown,” which tells the stories of women entrepreneurs who are transforming agriculture through high technology. Martha Montoya never imagined that her...

KING CITY — King City planning commissioners have delayed a final decision on the Meyers Farmworker Housing Facility until their Oct. 7 meeting. The 4-0 vote came during the Planning Commission’s Aug. 19 meeting, where numerous community members, business owners and farmworkers spoke out on...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 73, Assemblymember Robert Rivas’ Farmworker Wildfire Smoke Protections Act, into law on Sept. 27. California’s wildfire season, combined with heat waves and the Covid-19 pandemic, has helped shine a light on the necessary safety protocols agricultural...

SALINAS — As the decennial redistricting process wrapped up last month, the concern from The World’s Salad Bowl started to mount. Local politicians, regional business giants and other community leaders asked how a plan to pair the international agricultural hub with the Silicon Valley...