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By Scott Hamilton, President, Hamilton Resource Economics
The Water Association of Kern County held their Water Summit May 19th after a two year hiatus due to Covid. The Summit featured more than a dozen speakers covering a wide range of water-related topics. Most indicative of the Summit perhaps was the response to a question from CSUB Economics Professor and panel...
By Melissa A. Nagel, Contributor, Valley Ag Voice
Kern County’s District 3 Supervisor race is heating up and with elections right around the corner in June, it’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top! Kern has three candidates running for the District 3 Supervisor position that is being vacated by Supervisor Mike Maggard who has been in office...
By Audrey Hill, Contributor, Valley Ag Voice
Every year in April, Tulare’s International Agri-Center hosts the California Antique Equipment Show, featuring antique motors and farm equipment of all shapes and sizes. Held on April 23rd and 24th, this was the show’s second year back since the COVID shutdown in 2020. The Antique Show was paired with the Agri-Center’s Big Tulare...
By Patty Poire, President, Kern County Farm Bureau
WOW, here we are in June where half of the year has come and gone and May did not change or improve any of the California agricultural impacts from fertilizer, labor, regulatory, or water issues. If anything, those impacts just became more complicated. The toughness and resolve of the California farmer are...
By Romeo Agbalog, Executive Director, Kern County Farm Bureau
Can you believe we are already in June? It appears as though we are sprinting towards the end of 2022 as we reach the mid-way point of the year, and your local Farm Bureau continues its work with advocacy, education, and promotion of local area agriculture. For example, next month the...
By Timothy Collins, Chair, Kern County Young Farmers & Ranchers
Timothy Collins
Chair, Kern County Young Farmers & Ranchers
The pleasant spring weather gave the Kern County Young Farmers and Ranchers the great opportunity to have tours of two small family-owned farms at our last two meetings. In April, we toured Maggenti Show Goats out at Poncetta Farms, and then less than...
Mike McCoy
Executive Director, Kern County Museum
By Mike McCoy, Executive Director, Kern County Museum
Basque immigrants from the Pyrenees mountains of France and Spain were first drawn to California by the Gold Rush in the mid-19th century. They found out though, that providing the miners with lamb and wool was more profitable than digging for gold.
Moving into the 20th century, the...
By Brian Milne, Vice President, Director of Marketing & Communications, The Holloway Group
The agriculture industry has done some remarkable things over the years.
Despite the agricultural evolution and ability to produce more food today than it ever has in our history, outsiders sometimes mislabel the ag industry as outdated and technophobic when it comes to its farming practices.
But if you’ve...
By Dennis Pollock, Reporter
Reprinted with Permission from California Farm Bureau Federation
If you open your car window just a tad as you drive through Gilroy, you’re almost certain to detect a distinctive smell: garlic.
It’s a smell that Kevin Collins, a manager at Borba Farms in Fresno County, loves. He’s a grower of garlic, after all.
“A dairyman likes the smell of...
By Ching Lee, Assistant Editor, Ag Alert
Reprinted with Permission from California Farm Bureau Federation
Considering the red-hot price of cotton these days, California farmers say they would love to plant more of the field crop—if only they have the water.
State cotton growers have increased plantings by a modest 10% more than last year, according to preliminary estimates by the California...
By Ching Lee, Assistant Editor, Ag Alert
Reprinted with Permission from California Farm Bureau Federation
As ongoing port congestion and persistent shipping obstacles continue to block movement of California agricultural goods, farmers and exporters face bulging warehouses and dwindling cash flow that threaten to sink some businesses.
Tree nuts, fresh produce, dairy products and other California farm commodities struggle to find rides...
By Kevin Hecteman, Assistant Editor, Ag Alert
Reprinted with Permission from California Farm Bureau Federation
The 2022 vintage in some of California’s winegrape-growing regions took a massive hit from a mid-April frost that will leave some farmers with nothing to harvest.
Bruce Fry, who grows winegrapes near Lodi, said some of his vines lost their grape clusters—still in early stages of development—to...
Christine Souza
Assistant Editor, Ag Alert
By Christine Souza, Assistant Editor, Ag Alert
Reprinted with Permission from California Farm Bureau Federation
Facing a third year of drought, leadership from county Farm Bureaus, spanning all regions of California, gathered in Sacramento last week to engage with state water officials about all things water.
A changing climate, shrinking snowpack, water rights, aging infrastructure, groundwater regulations and...
By Ching Lee, Assistant Editor, Ag Alert
Reprinted with Permission from California Farm Bureau Federation
This time of year, the Sacramento Valley should be buzzing with tractors working the soil and planes dropping rice seed onto flooded fields as farmers ramp up planting.
In the heart of California rice country, the town of Maxwell in Colusa County gets busy during planting season....
Press Release Provided by California Department of Water Resources
In an effort to boost water supply reliability for millions of Californians, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) today announced its first round of funding to 20 agencies responsible for managing critically overdrafted groundwater basins throughout the state.
A total of $150 million in funding is being awarded to regional groundwater...
Press Release Provided by FMC
Avaunt® eVo insect control from FMC has obtained a supplemental label for use on tree nuts to control codling moth, navel orangeworm (NOW) and peach twig borer in California. Crops on the label include almonds, pistachios and walnuts, both black and English.
This tool delivers rapid activity with residual control of Lepidoptera as well as a...
Press Release Provided by California Department of Pesticide Regulation
On April 21st, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) awarded $3.75 million to fund 10 research projects that explore Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tools for urban, non-agricultural and agricultural pest management. The 2021-2022 DPR Grants Programs funded by the state budget represent a 617% increase from the previous year’s funding...
Press Release Provided by Almond Board of California
California’s almond acreage continues to grow, but at a gradually slowing rate, according to two new reports released on April 28th. While the number of almond orchards removed also increased over the previous year, it was not enough to offset the overall acreage gains.
According to an estimate from Land IQ, bearing almond...
Harvest 2022 expected to be down 4 percent from last year
Press Release Provided by Almond Board of California
The 2022 California Almond Subjective Forecast published May 12th, by the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimates that the crop harvested in 2022 will come in at 2.8 billion pounds, 4 percent below last year’s 2.92 billion...
Press Release Provided by the California Department of Food and Agriculture
The California Department of Food and Agriculture Office of Farm to Fork (CDFA-F2F) is accepting applications for the 2022 California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program, until 5 p.m. PT July 6, 2022.
The program will award competitive grants to support projects that cultivate equity, nurture students, build climate resilience,...
Press Release Provided by R-CALF USA
R-CALF USA has announced the launch of “No Rancher Left Behind,” a rancher/farmer conversation and awareness campaign. The campaign is a collaboration between R-CALF USA and Coy Young, a Missouri cattle rancher who recently testified before Congress about the stresses he faces as a cow-calf producer during this time of chronically depressed cattle prices...
By Joshua Stevens, Faith Contributor, Valley Ag Voice
Why pray if what we say doesn’t change the outcome? It’s not as if our words, no matter how eloquent we might think they are, can change the Almighty’s perfect desire. A sentiment that has, for decades now, prevailed throughout the western church, is the belief that prayer is a tool utilized...
New Lomas Lindas housing development provides much-needed affordable housing in the rural Central Valley
Press Release Provided by The Wonderful Company
The Wonderful Company (TWC), a global company dedicated to harvesting health and happiness around the world, today announced that six of 20 families have closed escrow and moved into their newly built single-family homes within the Lomas Lindas (Spanish for...
By Scott Hamilton, President, Hamilton Resource Economics
In March, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by key water leaders to improve the health of rivers and landscapes in the Central Valley. Why does that matter? A major question facing regulators is how much water needs to stay in rivers in the Central Valley to keep them healthy. The State...
Part of three generations of Holloway employees, Terry celebrated 50 years of service on Dec. 18; He will remain with company as senior advisor
By Brian Milne, Vice President, Director of Marketing & Communications, The Holloway Group
Holloway President Vard Terry has announced his retirement after 50 years with the company.
Terry, who started at Holloway on Dec. 18, 1971, celebrated his...
By Audrey Hill, Contributor, Valley Ag Voice
A big congratulations to all FFA students and supporters who were recognized with an FFA award this 2022! There is no doubt that the Future Farmers of America are a high achieving group of high school students, but some go above and beyond their requirements and are rewarded every year. At the national...
By Patty Poire, President, Kern County Farm Bureau
The toughness and resolve of the California farmer is truly being challenged now more than in the last couple of years. With the increased costs for fertilizer, labor, regulatory and don’t forget water, these costs are taking over the agricultural industry with no end in sight.
As for water, it appears that this...
By Timothy Collins, Chair, Kern County Young Farmers & Ranchers
Timothy Collins
Chair, Kern County Young Farmers & Ranchers
It had been several years since our last Young Farmers and Ranchers dairy tour as a club, and with milk consistently being one of Kern’s top five commodities, we felt it was time to do another tour. In March, we toured Lakeview Farms...
By Mike McCoy, Executive Director, Kern County Museum
Mike McCoy
Executive Director, Kern County Museum
When the Laxague Family decided to build a new brick building for their historic Pyrenees Bakery in 1961 on East 21st Street, they donated the original wooden building to the Kern County Museum. As was typical at that time, the building was “rebadged” by the Museum and...
By Andrea Prise, Professor, Bakersfield College
Andrea Prise
Professor, Bakersfield College
Have you heard the exciting news? This year, Bakersfield College has started a Rodeo Club that is competing in the West Coast Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA). As a new member of the NIRA, Bakersfield College is able to offer their students more ways to participate in...
