Focus on Agriculture

MONTEREY COUNTY—Monterey County agriculture’s gross production value bounced back by 4.8% in 2021 to just over $4.1 billion, despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic that also resulted in supply chain shortages. This increase represents a $190 million rise from 2020, when the gross production value was...

Edward Ortega of Ortega Berry Farms was recently selected by the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau as the 2019 Farmer of the Year.

Integrity Wines, located at the Watsonville Municipal Airport, has been in Watsonville for two years.

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...

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...

It has not been an easy harvest season for California apples. When temperatures shot up into the 100s in August and September, sparking wildfires across the state and harming numerous agricultural commodities, apples were one of the hardest-hit crops. The fruit is susceptible to...

Turning onto Bonny Doon Road from Highway 1 north of Santa Cruz, one can expect a number of different sights and smells. Wildflowers flank the paved road at first, pushing out onto the pavement persistently. Then there are damp, cool redwood groves. After

Orin Martin says his favorite thing about the Alan Chadwick Garden at UC Santa Cruz is its diversity.

WATSONVILLE—Thick fog rolled in and blanketed Crystal Bay Farm Wednesday morning, but the fields of the farm were teeming with life. A group of kindergarteners from Valencia Elementary School in Aptos, along with parents and teacher Karen Richmond, were visiting the organic farm  just off...

Agricultural packaging company Sambrailo Packaging has opened a new agriculture supply store at its packing and receiving location in Watsonville.