Focus on Agriculture

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...

MONTEREY COUNTY — The 2022 Monterey County Fair Junior Livestock Auction is being dedicated to Taylor Farms, the Salinas-based grower and packager of fresh produce that has supported the Fair’s 4-H and FFA exhibitors for more than 20 years by purchasing animals at the...

More than three decades ago, Cesar Chavez, founder of the first successful union for farmworkers, predicted a future in which the cities of California would be run by people who looked like him. “History and inevitability are on our side,” he said in one of his best-known...

Agricultural Commissioner Henry Gonzales has announced that the economic value of Monterey County agriculture increased by 4 percent in 2017, as compared with 2016, with crop production values of $4.4 billion.

SALINAS VALLEY — Applications are currently being accepted for the prestigious title of Miss Salinas Valley Fair, which is open to any junior or senior high school girl who is a resident or student of school districts in the counties of Monterey, San Benito,...

After 30 years of making its own wine, Smith Family Wines will discontinue producing the Paraiso, Irie and Alexander-Smith labels and close the tasting room at the Paraiso Vineyards on Paraiso Springs Road in Soledad.

KING CITY — Monterey County Supervisor Chris Lopez met with a representative from the Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute (LEAP Institute) outside his new District 3 office located at 1011 Broadway St. in King City on Aug. 11. The LEAP Institute recently launched Green...

Editor’s Note: The following profile is an excerpt from Amy Wu’s 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. Ellie Symes could easily pass for the...

CALIFORNIA — Arcadia Publishing has announced the publication of “California Agriculture,” a new history of the state’s agriculture industry by author Patti DesMarais. The 128-page paperback is part of Arcadia’s “Images of America” book series, featuring historical information and photographs. Beginning with the Spanish padres in...