Focus on Agriculture

CENTRAL COAST — Despite significant progress since the release of a landmark 2018 farmworker housing study quantifying critically overcrowded housing conditions for agricultural workers in the region, thousands more homes are needed to relieve severe overcrowding, unaffordable rents and ensure the stability of the...

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 Home Charter School senior Carli Hammond was crowned 2022 Miss Salinas Valley Fair after competing against one other girl in such areas as personality, scholastic ability, poise and horsemanship. The annual contest took place at the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds in...

SALINAS VALLEY — A campus redevelopment project is underway in Salinas, which is aimed at improving agricultural technology in the Salinas Valley and advancing the nature of agriculture work. The Growers Ice Co. lot, located at the corner of Merrill and Abbott streets, was originally...

LOCKWOOD — Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Lockwood 4-H Club has managed to stay active with several events. On Feb. 13, the club hosted the first of three County Record Book Workshops. Of the 14 4-H clubs in Monterey County, eight of those clubs had members...

SALINAS VALLEY — California Strategic Growth Council has approved more than $8.3 million in grants to the Ag Land Trust (ALT), a nonprofit dedicated to farmland preservation along the state’s Central Coast. The funding will enable the organization to purchase conservation easements on three key...

KING CITY — Jeremiah Casey arrived in San Lucas, Calif., in 1861 as a young Irish immigrant. He started homesteading and ranching, raising beef, finishing them on grass and marketing them as best he could, given the limited resources at hand.  Back then, ranchers didn't...

MONTEREY COUNTY — The role of agriculture and the resulting monetary ripples through the economy was the subject of a recent analysis conducted by the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office. Titled “Economic Contributions of Monterey County Agriculture,” the report was published in June 2020 based...

SALINAS VALLEY — California Department of Water Resources has awarded more than $10 million in funding to the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (SVBGSA) through the Sustainable Groundwater Management (SGM) Grant Program to support implementation of SVBGSA’s state-mandated groundwater sustainability plans in four...

KING CITY — King City Rural 4-H recently collaborated with King City High School FFA to offer an industrial arts project for its members for the first time. This rare collaboration included help from KCHS ag teacher Blaise Chaney, who opened up the school’s state-of-the-art...