Santa Clara County Agriculture, Food & Gardening Digest

As school meal programs expand, school kitchens are experiencing struggles hiring and retaining food workers.

The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources advisors has published a new website with information resources for small acreage landowners raising livestock.

Commercial beekeeper Andrew Strehlow estimates he’s had 1,000 hives stolen over the years. The latest theft, of 96 hives from a Fresno County orchard, was his last straw.

Beehives, tractors and more are getting stolen from farmers.

The Bay Area is home to a rich tapestry of food-based enterprises owned by Black chefs and entrepreneurs. Here’s a list by geographic area of many in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

State lawmakers grill Cal/OSHA officials, with allegations that employers get tipped off to inspections. The chairperson of the Assembly Labor Committee is seeking an audit.

State Sen. Scott Wiener wants to allow California cities and counties to designate “entertainment zones” where bars and restaurants could serve alcoholic drinks that people can consume on public streets and sidewalks.

In a sign of the ongoing threats to its precious groundwater stores, half a dozen regions in California rank among the world’s most rapidly declining aquifers.

Groundwater depletion is worsening in many of the world’s farming regions. But a global study also found that some efforts are helping to boost aquifers.

For months, the California Department of Food and Agriculture has been waging war on the oriental fruit fly, a voracious pest that can attack hundreds of types of fruits and vegetables.

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.

Los Altos residents will soon be seeing firsthand the progress of Los Altos leaders’ efforts to restore a landmark heritage apricot orchard at the city’s civic center.

There's something improbable about the existence of Poor House Bistro in San Jose, as if the fates were playing a game of chance with unlikely twists and turns that made this stellar New Orleans-themed restaurant land in the center of Little Italy.

Kirk’s Steakburgers, in business for more than 70 years, was facing redevelopment at its South Bascom Avenue site. Would “Campbell’s original burger joint” fade into history? Maurice and Giuseppe Carrubba made sure that didn’t happen.

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.

Cat Cat’s Nom Nom is a Sunnyvale home bakery established in 2016 by Catherine Wong.

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.

Los Altos City Council members may again be taking up discussion on updating a tree protection ordinance intended to encourage healthy tree populations under the city’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.

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.

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

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.

The Bay Area said farewell to many restaurants, brewers and bakeries in 2023. The ones listed here had been favorites for years, even generations.

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.

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.

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.

“At Pomeroy Elementary, we have an amazing Garden to Table program,” said Kevin Keegan, principal at Pomeroy, in an informational video. “We have this amazing partnership with our families and outside resources as well to make this community garden a wonderful place. We call it the heart of our school because it’s a place where all kids, all staff, everyone can go to and they have hands-on experiences.”

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.

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.

Sunnyvale’s award-winning Faultline Brewing Co. is getting a new identity. The 10,000-square-foot property will become the Laughing Monk Brewing and Gastropub—a change that also applies to Faultline’s Scotts Valley offshoot.

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.

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.