Santa Cruz County Agriculture, Food & Gardening Digest

Donate to Meals on Wheels for Santa Cruz County, which is facing a waitlist for the first time in 50 years in the face of increasing need. Read on for details and learn how you can help.

“If this is the new normal, this is absolute economic devastation,” says one local economist.

Those in California who’d like a latte with a side of weed have gotten their wish now that a new law goes into effect that permits licensed cannabis dispensaries to add sit-in cafes to their sites.  

Applications are open for Santa Cruz County residents to apply for commercial home kitchen permits. Read on to learn more about this new program.

New operating rules for massive Delta systems will increase water deliveries to Southern California cities and some growers. Salmon numbers could drop, especially in dry years.

Keith Poulsen's jaw dropped when farmers showed him images on their cellphones at the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin in October. A livestock veterinarian at the University of Wisconsin, Poulsen had seen sick cows before, with their noses dripping and udders slack.

Gov. Newsom launched an ambitious program that uses Medi-Cal to help Californians access housing, healthy food and more. Now, its fate is in the hands of President-Elect Trump.

Are food recalls on the rise? Yes. Read on to learn more.

Learn how you can donate to the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District "Stuff the Bus" holiday food drive on December 5.

Voters in California’s farm belt, stretching more than 400 miles from Kern County on the south to Tehama County on the north, delivered solid majorities for Donald Trump in this month’s presidential election.

With more than 65,000 residents relying on their services, Second Harvest Food Bank enters the holiday season in urgent need of donations.

THE SALINAS VALLEY is the setting for fecund soil, labor rights movements and John Steinbeck novels.Squeezed into one 90-mile-long wedge between the Gabilan and Santa Lucia mountains, the valley’s residents constitute less than 1% of Californians but have shaped the identity of the whole state.

An update on the progress in developing an unused baseball field at the Del Mar Elementary School into a nutrition and education farm.

Many California farmworkers have long lacked safe and affordable places to sleep — an issue thrown into sharp relief after last year’s mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, which left seven agricultural workers dead.

Santa Cruz County released the 2023 agriculture report, which showed a hit to productivity from the winter and spring storms and flooding.

Live Oak School District and Community Bridges signed a two-year lease allowing the nonprofit to continue running its Meals on Wheels program from district property on Capitola Road.

In their September 10 meeting, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance allowing home kitchens for commercial food use.

Free and discounted fairs and a special bus route to the Santa Cruz County Fair are being offered by Santa Cruz Metro September 11-15.

The chemical, used for decades, can harm babies’ developing brains. Farmworkers and people living near fields are most at risk. The EPA issued a rare emergency order.

Food service staff from local school districts recently participated in a weeklong training as Santa Cruz County schools begin their academic year, including the preparation of 15,000 daily meals for students as part of California's Universal Meals Program.

Officials in The City and County of Santa Cruz and the City of Watsonville are exploring tax and other policy changes in how the cannabis industry is governed locally.

A judge has halted a union effort at the Wonderful Company, throwing into question a new state law designed to make it easier for agricultural workers to organize.

A Kings County judge today issued a temporary restraining order against the state that pauses its unprecedented move to crack down on groundwater depletion in California’s agricultural heartland.

The Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau announced the 2024 Farmer of the Year is Janet Webb, president of Big Creek Lumber.

The $4.5 billion Sites Reservoir project is advancing after a judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by environmental groups.

A plan is underway and funding sought to convert an unused 1.1 acre sports field at Del Mar Elementary School into a productive on-site farm.

The centerpiece of California’s water wars pits Gov. Newsom against local communities and environmentalists. A new report says the benefits of the tunnel exceed the cost since other water supplies would cost more.

Long a fixture in Davenport, a second location of the Whale City Bakery Bar & Grill is set to open in Aptos at 7941 Soquel Drive.

The Teen Kitchen Project is building a new kitchen space in Soquel to expand meal production capacity to meet demand from those in need.

The Live Oak School District will consider hosting the farmers market at a school site, but the soonest that would happen is still months away.

Feedback is being solicited by the City of Santa Cruz for a new location for the downtown farmers market, which will be displaced when the library/parking garage project begins.

After failing to negotiate a new lease for the East Cliff Village shopping center location with owners San Jose based Swenson Builders, the Live Oak Farmers Market is looking for a new home.