Focus on Agriculture

KING CITY — Once again the Salinas Valley Fair drew thousands of people to King City for a long weekend of family-friendly activities and entertainment, including its first-ever huge concert headlined by multiplatinum country singer Dylan Scott on Saturday night. The 79th annual celebration featured...

SALINAS VALLEY — Hartnell College hosted a special version of the annual Ag Tech Summit — a half-day, in-person program called AgTechX Ed — last month on the Main Campus in Salinas. The Western Growers Center for Innovation and Technology has joined with the California...

MONTEREY COUNTY — California Gov. Gavin Newsom expanded his prior drought emergency proclamation to an additional nine counties on July 7, including Monterey County. Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Salinas), who oversees Monterey County in his district along with Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties, urged residents...

On March 29, the members of Watsonville Rotary and guests gathered at the Watsonville Elks Lodge for the first in a series of special monthly meetings.

BRADLEY — Bradley Elementary School is building its first-ever community garden, utilizing donations from community partners like Chevron and mentorship from staff and students at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly). The garden will be used for educational learning, with students having the opportunity to...

SALINAS VALLEY — Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (SVBGSA) Board of Directors on Aug. 12 approved Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) drafts to be released for public comment for the following subbasins: Eastside, Forebay, Langley and Upper Valley.  This comes after the 180/400 Foot Aquifer...

KING CITY — 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,...

SALINAS VALLEY — Numerous area leaders recently came together to distribute thousands of N95 respirators to protect agricultural workers, as ongoing air quality problems due to smoke from nearby wildfires caused essential workers in the outdoors to be in danger. Last week the Air Quality...

SALINAS VALLEY — Jesse Holguin retired from Gonzales Irrigation Systems on Dec. 31, wrapping up a career of 40 years with the company and more than 50 years in total with agricultural work. Holguin began working for Mel Fowler of King City 51 years ago,...

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. Martha Montoya never imagined that her...