Monterey County Agriculture, Food & Gardening Digest

Fast food lives in a consumer sweet spot: demand, convenience and relative affordability. And this pay hike—equal to minimum wage increases during the past five years—will create grand economic unknowns.

Ian Brand, who owns the I. Brand custom crush facility in Salinas, was looking for room to grow. So he has leased the Dorcich winery in a major expansion.

The Big Sur Food & Wine Foundation has awarded 17 grants worth a record $225,000 to local organizations with funds raised in 2023. Activities included the Big Sur Fashion Show, the Ferrari Event at the Barnyard, and more.

Like the redwoods that survived the devastating CZU fire of 2020, the McHenry family is resilient. That fateful August conflagration ruined a promising crop at Beauregard Vineyards.

California farmers face challenges posed by multiple types of fruit flies. Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed spending just over $22 million to combat the spread of these flies.

It’s nice to have a little something to look forward to. Or in this case, a dozen somethings, starting with three special cases.

An outbreak of the avian flu that began in California in October has killed 5.5 million birds throughout the Golden State. About 20% of the deaths have come in Sonoma County.

Bright blue waves have been spotted in Long Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Seal Beach. The bioluminescence is caused by organisms known as dinoflagellates and can impact fish populations.

Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing has been acquired by Adair Paterno of Sante Adairius Rustic Ales and Brad Clark of Private Press Brewing, which focuses on malt-forward and barrel-aged craft beer.

The pandemic threw a wrench in Katherine Stern’s plans, but on Dec. 29, the chef’s long-awaited first restaurant opened on Soquel Avenue, two doors down from the Rio Theater.

The Chico-based brewer has taken a more traditional approach to creating its non-alcoholic beer.

Bring on the cute Nepalese dumplings and deli sandwiches the size of a suitcase. Give me all the caviar in Carmel and hotdogs at the dump.

Farmland is being rezoned for industrial use, and massive warehouses are being built on spec near communities like Buttonwillow and Shafter, so goods coming through the Southern California ports can be shipped quickly throughout the western United States.

The California Strategic Growth Council approved over $116 million in Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program grants to permanently protect 50,500 acres of croplands and rangelands, as well as lands utilized by Indigenous tribes for the cultivation of traditional resources.

As another year zips by, Edible Monterey Bay has your back, offering a tasty way to mark its passing. Sample the Best New Openings of the Year, from Salinas to the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Salmon populations in the Scott and Shasta rivers have crashed, so state officials are about to restrict irrigation again. And the controversial rules may even become permanent.

Jeju Kitchen has debuted quietly on the lower level of Carmel Plaza, where Carmel Burger Bar used to be.

Three restaurants in San Francisco, three in Los Angeles and one in San Diego have been added to the Michelin Guide. Two of the SF eateries also made Esquire’s list for best new American restaurants in 2023.

Sea Harvest, the family-owned fishing outfit with boats on the water and a constellation of market-restaurants on shore, has a new market that just opened in Moss Landing.

Local Dungeness crab is off the Christmas menu. And probably the New Year’s one also.

The California Department of Water Resources released an environmental impact report for a tunnel that the state would like to build through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The report identifies potential impacts to farmland, tribal remains and endangered species of fish.

Even though California is facing a crippling housing shortage, one potential source remains untapped. The state allows thousands of apartments used for part of the year by farmworkers to otherwise sit vacant for three to six months.

The Pebble Beach Food & Wine flashbacks strike like lightning, seemingly out of nowhere.

Water managers in Pajaro Valley are paying farmers for water they get back into the ground. The move comes as California has grappled with water shortages in recent years.

Chef Jean Pierre Iuliano—who helmed Café Mare in Santa Cruz for nearly 22 years—served his last meal Nov. 26. But don’t despair. Café Mare will reopen Dec. 1 under new ownership by Marco Paoletti and Andrea Loporcaro, who both worked there in the early days.

The Double Up Food Bucks program—with its proven ability to connect food-insecure families and individuals to more fresh produce—officially debuted in Monterey County.

This whole Lady & Larder thing is a lot to digest. That becomes clear within 30 seconds of talking with the twin sisters behind it, Sarah and Boo Simms, who have returned to the Carmel Valley to relaunch the business.

Alvarado on Main, the dining and drinking establishment in Oldtown Salinas, is celebrating its first anniversary with the opening of a new lounge on its mezzanine level.

HERBL, one of California’s biggest cannabis companies, collapsed earlier this year. The company, which sold $700 million of cannabis last year, reportedly shorted the state $17 million in taxes.

The 31-mile-long wine trail along River, Foothill, and Los Coches roads in the Salinas Valley is undergoing a name change and rebrand just as wineries along the route are reaping the fruits of an exceptional wine-growing season.

It was roughly 30 months ago when Edible reported Villa Azteca was adding an ambitious sibling on Carmel Plaza’s ground floor next to Alvarado Street Brewery & Bistro.

Center for Food Safety has filed arguments seeking to revoke the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval of nationwide permit 56, which authorizes industrial finfish aquaculture structures in ocean waters around the country. CFS represents a coalition of conservation, tribal, and fishing organizations.