Focus on Agriculture

SALINAS VALLEY — A new exhibition at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas highlights a diverse generation of women innovators and their contribution to agriculture by way of technology. “From Farms to Incubators: Women Innovators in California Agtech,” which premiered last month, uses multimedia to...

KING CITY — Hundreds of third graders from South Monterey County schools attended the 2025 South County Farm Day last month to learn all about agriculture. The annual enrichment program, sponsored by Monterey County Agricultural Education, gives an opportunity for youth to become familiar with...

KING CITY — Roughly 1,400 third graders from South Monterey County schools attended the 2024 South County Farm Day last Thursday to learn about agriculture and experience animals firsthand.  The annual enrichment program, sponsored by Monterey County Agricultural Education, gives an opportunity for youth to...

KING CITY — Community Housing Improvement Systems and Planning Association Inc. (CHISPA) has received a $680,000 acquisition loan to purchase property in King City and create 40 affordable homes aimed toward farmworkers in the region. The funding is being made available through the Monterey Bay...

SALINAS VALLEY — Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) kicked off his statewide agricultural tour last month alongside local leaders and the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California. This first leg of the tour, beginning in Rivas’ Assembly District 30 on the Central Coast, included a celebration of...

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 — Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) is spotlighting its transformative Programa Educativo para Agricultores (PEPA), a comprehensive training program empowering farmworkers to transition into successful organic farmers. This program is reshaping agriculture in the Salinas Valley, offering Latino farmworkers the tools and...

Salinas Valley was initially spared the worst of the damage as storms battered California last month. But then the Salinas River overflowed its banks Jan. 10, breaching berms and levees. Over the ensuing hours and days, thousands of acres of some of the country’s most...

KING CITY — Celebration Nation is continuing to host food banks for local farmworkers in the Salinas Valley, with the next two events planned for King City and Greenfield on upcoming Saturdays. The nonprofit, launched in 2020 to support farm-working communities in California, currently schedules food...