Focus on Agriculture

Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System’s Farmers’ Market kicked off its 2017-2018 season last Friday, May 19. The Certified Farmers’ Market offers fresh fruits and vegetables, flowers and other items.

KING CITY — King City High School FFA Chapter swept last week’s competition at Rancho San Juan High School in Salinas, taking home several first-place awards. The Jan. 19 contests in Cooperative Marketing Tests (CMT), Best Informed Greenhand (BIG) for freshman and Job Interview...

KING CITY — Salinas Valley Fair has announced Kyla Lambert, a senior at King City High School, as Miss Salinas Valley Fair 2023. Over the next year, Lambert will represent the fair, making appearances at special events and inviting guests to attend the 79th annual...

SALINAS VALLEY — More than 75 food leaders, farmers, advocates and policymakers from across California gathered in November for Growing the Future Together, the first in-person statewide convening of the California Food Policy Council (CAFPC) since the pandemic. Hosted in Salinas — the “Salad Bowl...

For decades in the Salinas Valley, the short-handle hoe, known as “El Cortito,” was used for weeding and thinning rows of crops that kept farmworkers stooped over for long hours each day. Workers were only able to stand and stretch when they reached the...

GREENFIELD — South Monterey County Joint Union High School District (SMCJUHSD) will launch two farm-to-cafeteria educational programs between Greenfield High School and the district’s Food Services Department. The first-of-its-kind collaboration was made possible by a new grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s...

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.

CALIFORNIA — A new article appearing in the current issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry explores the concept of “superfoods” and makes a case that fresh grapes have earned what should be a prominent position in the superfood family. The author,...

SALINAS VALLEY — Ever since a young child, Rose Escobar dreamed of becoming a Rodeo Queen — a best-in-class combination of horsemanship and athletic abilities paired with personal skills of public speaking and knowledge of the heritage of agriculture. That dream came true this year...