Focus on Agriculture

MONTEREY — The thrill of in-person bidding at a livestock auction with live auctioneers and an engaged audience returns this Saturday, Aug. 28, with the Monterey County Fair Junior Livestock Auction. The 2021 auction, returning for the first time since 2019, begins at 10 a.m....

MONTEREY COUNTY — Monterey County Supervisors Luis Alejo and Chris Lopez will be conducting a special honoring of living Bracero workers who reside in Monterey County at the Sept. 12 Board of Supervisors meeting in Salinas as part of the first-ever “Bracero History Recognition...

SALINAS VALLEY — A panel of experts discussed current challenges in agriculture, such as the future of the workforce and the role of education, during the eighth annual Salinas Valley Ag Tech Summit. The two-day session spanned more than eight and a half hours of...

KING CITY — Dozens of vehicles lined up to receive supplies during a PPE distribution event on Feb. 3, hosted by the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office in King City. More than 60 agricultural companies, including growers, pest control businesses and farm labor contractors,...

KING CITY — An FFA caravan hit Broadway Street last Wednesday as part of the FFA Week lineup for the Future Farmers of America at King City High School. The caravan had 35 vehicles, including diesel trucks from L.A. Hearne and Bassetti Farms, which blew...

KING CITY — Monterey County Cattlemen’s Association (MCCA) is bringing back its annual Team Roping and Ranch Rodeo for a full weekend of western tradition at the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds in King City. The event kicks off Friday, Aug. 22, with team roping, followed by a dinner and calcutta...

KING CITY — Kacey Hass, a seventh-grade life science teacher at Chalone Peaks Middle School, has started a GoFundMe page to raise money to start a school garden. Hass is also the gardening teacher for both seventh and eighth grades, but the campus currently does...

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...

MONTEREY COUNTY — A Monterey County program to ensure equity in the local commercial cannabis market is sputtering but will continue on a smaller scale. The county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously March 19 to continue the Growing Equity Together program, known as GET, despite...

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...