Focus on Agriculture

CALIFORNIA—U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue recently announced the approval of a California and Arizona request to provide online purchasing of food to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households.  This approval will allow these states to expedite the implementation of online purchasing with currently authorized...

In 2014 Elizabeth Hoover, associate professor in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley, set out on a road trip across the U.S. Hoover covered 20,000 miles over four months, visiting 29 different Indigenous communities and asking everyone she met one question: How do...

After more than four years of devastating drought, 2017 saw California receive the wettest winter in more than 100 years.

CALIFORNIA—Five California Congress members, including Zoe Lofgren (District 19) and Jimmy Panetta (District 20) have unveiled a House bill to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented farmworkers. In an Oct. 30 “tele-press conference,” Lofgren and Panetta said their Farm Workforce Modernization Act would provide...

Gonzales High School FFA Chapter President and Monterey Bay Sectional Reporter Samantha Santos, who was selected as the Monterey County Fair’s 2017 Heritage Scholarship winner, auctioned off two hogs Sept. 2 at the fair, one of which — the heritage hog — sold for more than $33,000.

Strawberry season in the Pajaro Valley is in full swing, and experts are reporting that demand has steadily increased despite a difficult kickoff. As the Covid-19 pandemic hit the California region in mid-March, strawberry producers initially saw a spike in sales. But it was soon...

Recently, the Paso Robles High School Future Farmers of America welding team concluded an undefeated season with its first-ever first place win at the California State FFA Agriculture Welding Championship. In addition to winning the overall championship,

WATSONVILLE—When Santa Cruz-based natural foods store Staff of Life opened its second location in Watsonville in March, employees from Sambrailo were pleased to see their products featured front and center. Fresh, organic vegetables and fruit in the store’s produce aisle were nestled inside Sambrailo’s sustainable...

Dr. Joji Muramoto recently joined Farm Fuel part-time as senior researcher/consultant to conduct research improving the efficiency of mustard seed meal and ASD applications and products.