A local business and FFA students came together to help provide meals for central coast residents in need this Thanksgiving. Rabo Agrifinance and Arroyo Grande FFA students assembled food baskets with various items, which will be delivered to 150 local families at the high school and elementary levels.

Could San Luis Obispo's wastewater help save Edna Valley agriculture? That was the question of the night on Nov. 15 for the SLO City Council, which took a deep dive into the future of its recycled water program-including whether it wants to sell any "extra" water to Edna Valley to help neighboring farmers reduce their draw on groundwater.

Another project aimed at recharging groundwater supplies is in the works on the Central Coast. The City of San Luis Obispo wants to expand the use of recycled water which could involve selling it to outside agencies. The city wants to eventually pump purified wastewater back into the ground, but that won't happen for at least eight years.

PUBLISHED ON SACRAMENTO (AP) - California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon says he will step down next summer, ending what will be a seven-year run as one of the state's most powerful politicians before he is termed out of office in 2024.

California Department of Food and Agriculture Media Contacts: Steve Lyle (CDFA), 916-654-0462 , officeofpublicaffairs@cdfa.ca.gov Espaol Sacramento, November 16, 2022 - CDFA is now accepting comments on a draft Request for Grant Applications (RGA) for the Healthy Soils Block Grant Pilot Program and the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) Block Grant Pilot.

While control of the next Congress has yet to be decided, farmers and ranchers still need lawmakers to address several priorities. Micheal Clements tells us what the lame duck Congress can do for rural America. Clements: The American Farm Bureau Federation has a few priorities for Congress to consider during the lame duck session.

Deep in the middle of harvest, farmers, who use diesel in harvesters, tractors and the trucks used to haul their harvests to market, have been hit head-on with tight diesel supplies and high prices. Particularly frustrating, as they've experienced diesel fuel prices soar, gas prices have remained fairly stable, even though crude oil is the main factor in the price for both fuels.

During a meeting this week (Nov. 1-2), the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank (often called "the Fed") once again raised the rate at which the Fed lends to other banks, this time by 0.75% to about 3.75%, and indicated an intent to continue raising rates at future meetings.

PUBLISHED ON DAVIS, Calif. - Growers of organic vegetables and strawberries across California are invited to attend an online training to learn how to manage nitrogen fertilization. UC Cooperative Extension is offering the three-part Nitrogen Planning and Management in Organic Production of Annual Crops Workshop on Nov. 29, Dec.

The Federal Reserve is finding it harder to cool the economy than almost anyone expected. Most corners of the U.S. economy are performing very well considering the Fed has been aggressively raising rates for seven months. Manufacturing continues to expand, consumer spending remains strong, the labor market is still extremely tight and Q3 GDP data ...

Farm Bureau's 37th annual survey provides a snapshot of the average cost of this year's classic Thanksgiving feast for 10, which is $64.05 or less than $6.50 per person.

This is a $10.74 or 20% increase from last year's average of $53.31.

Christmas tree growers are warning that their prices will inflate this year due to economic instability and environmental conditions. "Because inflation impacts absolutely everything, the industry is seeing increases in shipping costs, fertilizer, trucking, everything you can possibly think of, whether it be real or artificial trees.

Contact: FPAC.BC.Press@usda.gov New Programs Will Provide Additional Pandemic and Natural Disaster Assistance for 2020 and 2021; Deadline Announced for Previous Emergency Relief WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2022 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced plans for additional emergency relief and pandemic assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Young rainbow trout at the Warm Springs Fish Hatchery near Big Pine, Calif., on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. (Photo: Sean Lema, via Shutterstock) The impacts of California's interminable drought are well-known. But one aspect has drawn little relatively attention - its relationship with environmental laws.

On Thursday, more than 200 people gathered virtually to voice their opinions on a pesticide notification program occurring in Watsonville and at other sites across California. While residents and activists called for more information and earlier notification around pesticide use, growers expressed concerns that the program might go too far and impede their work.

MEXICO CITY, Nov 9 (Reuters) - A broad coalition of Mexican lawmakers is pushing to ban nearly 200 chemicals used in pesticides, saying they endanger human health, and the plan has alarmed farmers who say the move could devastate the country's food production.

SACRAMENTO - Today, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation introduced proposed regulations to protect Californians from potential exposure to 1,3- dichloropropene (1,3-D), a hazardous pesticide. The proposed regulations would strengthen restrictions on use and significantly reduce potential residential and non-occupational bystander exposure to one of the most highly used agricultural pesticides in California, 1,3-D.

The history of commercial avocados in California comes from a collection of chance discoveries, Indigenous heritages exploited and improbable survivals that were ultimately hitched to the power of California's industrialized agriculture.

It's that time of the year when orchards are being pulled and growers begin preparing their soil for future plans. For growers looking to replant their orchards, watch this brief interview with UC Riverside Nematologist Andreas Westphal as he shares some considerations to take for fumigation when it comes to nematode pressure.

Hop farmer Jen Coleman was nervous about using H2A workers. The visa program allows agricultural employers to hire temporary, seasonal workers from other countries during peak seasons such as harvest. The program comes with costs to farmers: housing, wages, paperwork and application fees. So Coleman had reservations.

With congressional adjournment on the horizon, a parade of farmers, food processors, and lawmakers called on the Senate on Wednesday to get to work on legislation to give legal status to undocumented farmworkers and streamline the H-2A guestworker program.

Earlier this fall, Alameda County supervisors officially banned the practice of “wild cow milking” — a timed event in which a lactating beef cow, unused to human handling, has been wrangled from the fields and brought to an arena.

The move comes three years after the county banned “mutton busting” — an event in which small children are placed on the backs of scared, unsaddled sheep and try to stay on while the sheep bucks, kicks and jumps to knock the child off.

Sorting Pen: The California Cattleman Podcast Episode 23: Sorting through thanking our veterans California cattle ranchers June and Kevin Kester come on the podcast to share about some of the ways they are giving back to veterans. Hear about a recent Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C.

U.S. residents gobble up a lot of turkey each year at Thanksgiving. In anticipation of the holiday, producers raise turkeys and place inventories into cold storage throughout the year, with inventories often reaching peak levels in August.

PUBLISHED ON SAN FRANCISCO - California vineyards and wineries are encouraged to apply for the 2023 California Green Medal Sustainable Winegrowing Leadership Awards, with applications now being accepted at greenmedal.org .

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Vintners across the state are expecting a high-quality vintage for 2022 following a season filled with curveballs. For many California wine regions, this was a tale of two harvests, as a Labor Day heat wave divided the season into earlier and later picks.

The last time San Luis Obispo ran critically short of water, the city pumped heavily from wells along Los Osos Valley Road. The aquifer was so overtaxed by residents and farmers that the ground sank, resulting multi-million dollar lawsuit settlements over damaged businesses and homes.

Alfalfa is often the target of critics of irrigated agriculture who frequently rely upon simplistic explanations to heap scorn upon growing a forage crop in the West during times of drought. Two Democratic congressmen from Arizona -- Ruben Gallego and Raúl Grijalva -- last month introduced the "Domestic Water Protection Act of 2022" (H.R.

The California Coastal Commission tonight approved another desalination plant, despite citing its high costs, risks to Monterey Bay's environment and "the most significant environmental justice issues" the commission has faced in recent years. The commission's divided, 8-to-2 vote came after 13 hours of debate at a Salinas public hearing packed with several hundred people, plus more crammed into overflow space.