Focus on Agriculture

GREENFIELD — The Ripley family celebrated seven years of their Flora’s Farm stand outside Greenfield on Aug. 29. The business started as a small canopy closer to the creek, but has since expanded as the family attended local farmer’s markets and David Ripley built a...

KING CITY — Monterey County Supervisor Chris Lopez announced last week that the county has entered escrow on a property in King City that will host the return of the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office in South Monterey County. The location at 1011 Broadway St....

MONTEREY — The thrill of in-person bidding at a livestock auction with live auctioneers and an engaged audience returns this Saturday, Aug. 28, with the Monterey County Fair Junior Livestock Auction. The 2021 auction, returning for the first time since 2019, begins at 10 a.m....

GONZALES — Papé Material Handling opened its new Gonzales location with a celebration earlier this month, allowing the public to tour the facility, get acquainted with the team and see an electric truck. An estimated 100 community members showed up to the Aug. 4 grand...

MONTEREY COUNTY — Crop values fell in 2020 by a total of $499 million from 2019, with 2020’s total at $3.9 billion, according to the Monterey County Crop Report issued by Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner Henry Gonzales on July 20. The 11.3% decrease in production...

GREENFIELD — South Monterey County Joint Union High School District (SMCJUHSD) will launch two farm-to-cafeteria educational programs between Greenfield High School and the district’s Food Services Department. The first-of-its-kind collaboration was made possible by a new grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s...

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...

In recent weeks, dangerous heat has killed hundreds of people in Oregon and Washington, endangered workers across the region and strained California’s power grid. It has also exacerbated the slow-moving natural disaster already punishing the West: the drought. Late last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom formally urged...

Editor’s Note: The following profile is an excerpt from Amy Wu’s 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. Ellie Symes could easily pass for the...

GREENFIELD — A certificate of recognition was recently awarded to Scheid Vineyards in Greenfield by Southern Monterey County Republican Women Federated (SMCRWF) for the winery’s patriotism demonstrated by flying the American flag at its place of business. SMCRWF President Jeane Errea-Mills and SMCRWF Caring for...