Focus on Agriculture

WATSONVILLE—A new pilot program to inform residents of hazardous pesticide applications at area farmlands, under the umbrella of the Santa Cruz County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office, will go into motion in August.  The program was outlined by Agricultural Commissioner Juan Hidalgo at a community meeting at...

The 39th Annual EcoFarm Conference will host its annual farm tour on Jan. 23.

With the theme “Cowboy Up and Wind Down,” the 2017 Salinas Valley Fair brought thousands of visitors to South County and featured the annual Junior Livestock Auction, which raked in $2.1 million from the sale of 950 animals.

CENTRAL COAST—Many Monterey County farmworkers are going to work despite testing positive for the novel coronavirus, and some of those laborers are doing so because they are concerned about losing their job, their pay or because their employer told them to. That’s according to the...

Grocery shopping is a different experience than what it was before the Covid-19 pandemic. Between long lines and being in close-quarters, navigating an indoor store can be a challenging and not altogether comfortable experience.  This is why many farmers markets across the Monterey Bay campaigned...

WATSONVILLE—For years the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau (SCCFB) and the Agri-Culture organization have hosted the National Agriculture Day Spring Luncheon. However, due to the current COVID- 19 pandemic, the March 18 event was postponed, and its future remains uncertain. Despite this, the two groups...

Ellie Dyt knows a lot more about the California Dairy Industry than most seventeen-year-old high schoolers. Dyt was raised on a dairy farm her whole life in the small town of Crows Landing, home to thousands of dairy cows, gaining first-hand experience by working there...

According to the California Strawberry Commission, about 90% of all strawberries in the U.S. are grown in California. The fruit thrives in the state, due to its need for year-round moderate weather, which allows its roots to grow strong and stable.  On the Central Coast, consistent...

WATSONVILLE—About 200 people disembarked three large charter buses on Green Valley Road in Watsonville early Wednesday morning as part of the EcoFarm Bus Tour, a kickoff to the EcoFarm Conference in Pacific Grove this week.  The tour was visiting Strong Agronomy, a management company that...

SACRAMENTO—Earlier this month, Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel Valley), Representatives Billy Long (R-MO), Mike Levin (D-CA), and Dan Newhouse (R-WA) introduced bipartisan legislation aiming to help preserve agricultural fairs across the country and offset the devastating financial losses they have experienced due to Covid-19. The Agricultural...