Focus on Agriculture

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 — Hartnell College has been awarded a $9.5 million grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s inaugural NEXTGEN program.  The official announcement was made during a presentation by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in Washington, D.C., on June 20. “This...

SALINAS VALLEY — Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (SVBGSA) Board of Directors on Aug. 12 approved Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) drafts to be released for public comment for the following subbasins: Eastside, Forebay, Langley and Upper Valley.  This comes after the 180/400 Foot Aquifer...

A sold-out South County Ag Tour, presented by Monterey County Agricultural and Rural Life Museum, allowed participants to visit a few agricultural businesses in the area last Saturday.

MONTEREY COUNTY — An excessive heat warning has been issued by the U.S. National Weather Service San Francisco Bay Area/Monterey California beginning Thursday through early next week for Monterey County. Areas under warning include: southern Salinas Valley, Arroyo Seco, Lake San Antonio, Santa Lucia Mountains...

KING CITY — Monterey County Judge Rafael Vasquez has sentenced King City residents and farm labor contractors Elias Perez Jr., 43, and Alejandra Perez, 40, to three years in prison for insurance fraud committed between 2013 and 2017. Vasquez also suspended those prison sentences, placing...

MONTEREY COUNTY — Monterey County’s agriculture industry saw a major rebound in 2024, with overall crop and livestock production reaching nearly $5 billion in gross value — a 14.7% increase from the previous year. And, for the first time in county history, a single crop...

SALINAS VALLEY — As the country celebrates National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month this June, the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) is spotlighting the farmers behind the produce — and the power of farming to change lives. Located in the heart of the Salinas...

CALIFORNIA — Before state officials announced that 40% of California's new vaccine doses would go to low-income communities, leaders were struggling to make good on promises to prioritize vulnerable Californians in the vaccine rollout. As my colleague Miriam Jordan recently wrote, farmworkers were among those...