agriculture

Head Start programs will continue running in Santa Cruz County through the end of the month despite the government shutdown. And, a state bill was set to create the first farmland access program in California. Then it was vetoed.

En el Valle de Salinas, los agricultores locales se han visto afectados por la reciente pérdida de los programas federales que les abrían el acceso a mercados para comercializar sus productos.

The U.S. Supreme Court has made it easier for immigration agents to stop people based on their race. And, a Central Coast food distribution network aims to shorten the farm to fork supply chain and help area small farms.

More than 14,000 people on the Central Coast face contaminated drinking water from nitrates in agricultural fertilizers. The regional water quality control board is searching for alternative water solutions.

Activists concerned with the health consequences of pesticide use in the Pajaro Valley rallied around Omar Dieguez who is leading a monthlong hunger strike.

The Salinas Valley produces more than half of the country’s lettuce. But the fertilizer used to help grow it has contaminated many of Monterey County’s drinking water wells.

Access to clean drinking water is considered a human right. But for some farmworker communities on the Central Coast, it’s not a reality.

The Campaign for Organic and Regenerative Agriculture will co-host an event on Sunday to educate and unite people against the use of toxic pesticides in the Pajaro Valley. And, farmworker rights activist Dolores Huerta supports a redistricting measure that could result in more Democrats in Congress.

A Monterey County wine trade group is shutting down. And, California Republicans are speaking out against a redistricting proposal.

Small farmers in the Salinas Valley are reeling from the loss of federal programs that created market channels for them to sell their products.