Focus on Agriculture

MONTEREY COUNTY — Monterey County Board of Supervisors narrowly voted Jan. 9 to make changes to its outdoor cannabis cultivation pilot program, allowing growers to double their canopy size and eliminate a requirement that made permit applicants prove cannabis was cultivated on the property...

GREENFIELD — South Monterey County’s first marijuana dispensary has opened for business in Greenfield, selling recreational cannabis products in the area. Higher Level, a locally owned cannabis retailer with operations in Seaside and Hollister, opened its third location in Greenfield earlier this month. A grand...

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 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...

As we all manage the implementation of our groundwater management sustainability plans in the next 15 years, there will be some hard choices that communities will need to make. Most of these will include financing various water supply solutions, such as resource projects, land...

KING CITY — In a gathering that underscored the enduring spirit of innovation and generosity in California’s “Salad Bowl of the World,” David and Susan Gill of King City received the prestigious E.E. “Gene” Harden Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grower-Shipper Association of Central...

CALIFORNIA — Grappling with higher costs and challenges related to water, labor, regulations and trade, some California farm leaders question whether the nation’s No. 1 agriculture state has reached a tipping point. California Farm Bureau President Shannon Douglass discussed the high cost of operating a...

KING CITY — Salinas Valley Fair has announced that this year’s Fair theme is “Barnyard May-Ham,” suggested by James Hinkle of King City. Hinkle is a sophomore at Palma High School and president of King City Rural 4-H Club. The 16-year-old said he submitted the idea...

KING CITY — More than 1,100 backpacks filled with school supplies were delivered to students in King City and Salinas this year as part of Taylor Farms’ 13th annual Backpack Giving Program. After starting the program in Monterey County in 2010, Taylor Farms has since...

SALINAS VALLEY — Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (SVBGSA) is now accepting applications for its Advisory Committee, a crucial body responsible for guiding groundwater management strategies in the region. The committee provides valuable input and consensus-based recommendations to the SVBGSA Board of Directors, playing...