Yolo County Agriculture, Food & Gardening Digest

The Davis Farmers Market popular Picnic in the Park is back, running every Wednesday from 4PM to 8PM starting on May 1 and running through September.

The City of Davis has contributed Measure O open space funding for an agricultural conservation easement on 120 acres of local farmland.

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

The annual Capay Valley Almond Festival is making its return Feb. 24 and 25 at every town up the valley from Esparto to Rumsey.

The center is a collaboration between multiple departments and institutions that will lead innovation and research in sustainably producing alternative proteins.

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.

Buu “Billy” Ngo, a co-owner at the widely adored Kru Contemporary Japanese Cuisine, has been named as a semifinalist for Best California Chef from the James Beard Awards.

Beehives, tractors and more are getting stolen from farmers.

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.

Woodland Community College administrators hosted hundreds of community members for a ribbon cutting celebrating the completion of the latest addition to the campus.

Climate-ready landscapes are spaces that are visually vibrant, drought tolerant, and support local nature. At Robert Arneson Park, these spaces will be pollinator gardens and mini-forests.

In 2022, the ASUCD Coffee House (CoHo) began its expansion project under the leadership of Food Service Director with the Associated Students Dining Services Darin Schluep.

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.

When you visit the Hooby’s Brewing website and read the Stocking family story, you can’t help but want to learn more about how what started off as a joke became the Winters 2023 Business of the Year.

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.

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.

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.

A third of the country’s farmers are over the age of 65. To bring in new farmers, $500,000 from the California Farm Bureau’s California Bountiful Foundation will be used to train veterans and socially disadvantaged individuals.

After years of taco vendors playing “a game of cat-and-mouse” with officials, SB 972 took effect this year, supporting street vendors in the process of getting the permits required to start a small food business.

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.

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.

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.

A newly updated “plant hardiness zone map” from the Department of Agriculture has many of the nation’s gardeners rushing online, Googling what new plants they can grow in their mostly warming regions.