Focus on Agriculture

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...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 73, Assemblymember Robert Rivas’ Farmworker Wildfire Smoke Protections Act, into law on Sept. 27. California’s wildfire season, combined with heat waves and the Covid-19 pandemic, has helped shine a light on the necessary safety protocols agricultural...

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...

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...

MONTEREY COUNTY — Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) Board Chair and Monterey County Supervisor Chris Lopez hosted the May 2024 RCRC Board of Directors meeting in Monterey County. The two-day event featured the RCRC Board of Directors meeting at the Monterey County Government Building...

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...

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...

Editor’s Note: The following profile is an excerpt from Amy Wu’s upcoming book, “From Farms to Incubators: Women Innovators Revolutionizing How Our Food is Grown,” which tells the stories of women entrepreneurs who are transforming agriculture through high technology. Claudia Pizarro-Villalobos was born and raised...

The California State Fair has announced the recipients of the prestigious 2017 agriculture awards, which will be presented at the annual Friends of the California State Fair Gala.