Focus on Agriculture

GREENFIELD — For the second time, thousands of freshly prepared meals were distributed to farmworker families suffering during the Covid-19 crisis on May 26 at Patriot Park in Greenfield. The food distribution is the latest effort by the United Farm Workers and World Central Kitchen...

KING CITY — Monterey County Home Charter School senior Carli Hammond was crowned 2022 Miss Salinas Valley Fair after competing against one other girl in such areas as personality, scholastic ability, poise and horsemanship. The annual contest took place at the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds in...

MONTEREY COUNTY — Over the past two weeks, multiple agricultural businesses in Monterey County have been targeted by a wave of burglaries, resulting in the theft of valuable equipment. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office Ag Crimes Unit has been actively investigating these incidents, leading to...

SALINAS VALLEY — Monterey County companies, organizations and agencies have partnered to host mass vaccination sites weekly, with the latest having taken place at the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds in King City last Saturday. Two mass clinics had already taken place earlier this month in Salinas,...

SALINAS VALLEY — A dangerous herbicide banned immediately by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been sprayed on crops in many California counties and has contaminated groundwater in low concentrations in the Salinas Valley and Santa Barbara County. The weed-killing chemical, known as DCPA or...

CALIFORNIA — As wildfire conditions across California are expected to increase steadily through the summer, state officials last month expressed concerns about cuts in staff and funding at federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, a division within the Agriculture Department that partners with...

SALINAS VALLEY — A campus redevelopment project is underway in Salinas, which is aimed at improving agricultural technology in the Salinas Valley and advancing the nature of agriculture work. The Growers Ice Co. lot, located at the corner of Merrill and Abbott streets, was originally...

KING CITY — Cristina Balestreri, who grew up in the Salinas Valley, has been named the 2023 Miss King City Stampede. Balestreri, daughter of Monterey County natives Mario and Josephine Balestreri, received the title, sash and crown during the third annual King City Stampede, a...

SALINAS VALLEY — Numerous area leaders recently came together to distribute thousands of N95 respirators to protect agricultural workers, as ongoing air quality problems due to smoke from nearby wildfires caused essential workers in the outdoors to be in danger. Last week the Air Quality...