Santa Cruz County Agriculture, Food & Gardening Digest

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.

The retiring District 2 County Supervisor received the Al Smith Friend of Agriculture Award from the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau and Agri-Culture at the National Agriculture Day Spring Luncheon.

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

One of the biggest properties on Cannery Row has a new identity, after several years dark. Tipsy Putt soft opened in the former Cannery Row Brewing Company.

Pesticide reform activists and legal experts held a news conference in Watsonville outlining mounting evidence for a lawsuit they’re preparing to file against California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation for civil rights violations against farmworkers.

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.

The new downtown Santa Cruz restaurant from Sugo partners Marco Paoletti and Andrea Loporcaro has opened in the space that used to be Café Mare.

Beehives, tractors and more are getting stolen from farmers.

There’s a new face and ethos driving the wine program at Mentone these days. Wine director Emma Bavera has been here only a few months, but she’s already bringing many welcome additions to the wine experience.

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.

History has a way of repeating itself. Not this time around. On the docks of Moss Landing, history has a real chance of reinventing itself.

The custom wood-fired oven will be blasting out pizzas with the char, bubbles and caramelization only 800 degrees can bring.  The Emiliomiti pasta extruder will be squeezing out strozzapreti, rigatoni and bucatini.