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By Audrey Hill, Feature Contributor, Valley Ag Voice
Volkoff Ag is an agriculture services company based in Shafter, CA. They provide services that require heavy machinery and equipment like spraying, topping, pruning, hedging, and harvesting to a variety of crops such as tree nuts, citrus, olives, hemp and grapes. The company was founded by Steve and Leah Volkoff soon after...
By Valley Ag Voice Staff
In the June 2021 publication of Valley Ag Voice, it was stated that the fairgrounds would likely need to be used as a COVID-19 vaccination clinic during the proposed fair time, and unfortunately the 2021 Kern County Fair would be cancelled. However, in a quick June 4th fair board meeting, held via Zoom, they made...
By Scott Hamilton, President, Hamilton Resource Economics
Environmentally, the San Joaquin Valley is very different from what it was 170 years ago. And during that time, the Valley landscape has been evolving. The Valley floor originally consisted of a number of diverse ecosystems: grasslands, oak woodlands, alkali desert scrub, wetlands, a number of lakes, and riparian habitats. The period of...
By John Moore, President, Kern County Farm Bureau
In Life There Are Givers
By nature, farmers and ranchers are Givers. Farmers and ranchers start by giving themselves to their soils or herd to create an immensely important product. For these stewards, food, fiber, and humility is their gift to society. They give their working lives to risk their family’s financial stability...
By Romeo Agbalog, Executive Director, Kern County Farm Bureau
Kern County… the most important county in the nation. That may sound a little hyperbolic for some, but for those of us here at home it is not a stretch of the imagination at all for us to say or believe that. After all, Kern County is home to two military...
By Allie Cushnyr, Chair, Kern County Young Farmers & Ranchers
IT’S BACK!!! The Kern County Young Farmers and Ranchers Annual Charity Farmer’s Market has officially returned, and we are thrilled! In 2020, like many other things, we took the year off from the market and gave back in other ways. Now that life is getting back to its normal rhythm,...
By Mike McCoy, Executive Director, Kern County Museum
Mike McCoy
Executive Director, Kern County Museum
Anyone who has owned a country house or lived on a ranch or farm knows that the one essential member of the crew is a good dog. Archaeologists probing around in caves looking at the remains of early hunters always found the bones of dogs. And often...
By Jenifer VanAlstein, Feature Contributor, Valley Ag Voice
California is in yet another tough water year. It seems as though we are always in a tough water year, even during wet years. That’s because California does not have a water problem… what California has is a water management problem, which is the result of decades of laws, regulations, and decisions...
Reprinted with Permission from Friant Water Authority
Recent actions by the State Water Resources Control Board, Bureau of Reclamation, and California Department of Water Resources to adjust operations for the historic low water available in the Central Valley – including approval of the Temporary Urgency Change Permit, the Shasta Temperature Management Plan, and the Drought Operations Plan – are all...
By Austin SneddenRanching Contributor, Valley Ag Voice
My grandfather would say in reference to the challenging short grass country that our family runs cattle, “If this country was any better, someone else would own it.” Making a go on land that others had homesteaded and moved on comes with a sense of pride that money can’t buy. Just like the...
