San Benito County pauses new battery plants, climate-friendly farms more insulated from fertilizer price spike

KAZU | By Elena Neale-Sacks

Published March 12, 2026 at 2:00 AM PDT

A person kneels on dirt amid rows of lettuce and herbs. — A farmer harvests lettuce at the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) in Salinas in 2025.

In today's newscast, San Benito County adopts a temporary moratorium on battery energy storage facilities. And, the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran has increased nitrogen fertilizer costs as the spring planting season gets underway—are more conservation-minded farms insulated? Plus, Cal State Monterey Bay president Vanya Quiñones is stepping down.

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Elena Neale-Sacks

Elena is an Emmy award-winning researcher, reporter, and producer. At KAZU, they cover agriculture, housing and homelessness, and the aftermath of the January 2025 lithium battery fire in Moss Landing. Their reporting and research has been featured on NPR, KQED, Netflix, Reveal, CalMatters, and more. Elena is an alum of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and UC Santa Cruz. You can reach them at elena@kazu.org.

See stories by Elena Neale-Sacks