Food And Farm News
1-22-2025
ICYMI: Kaweah farms find balance under SGMA
In November, water managers and farmers in the Kaweah Subbasin in Tulare County won a unique victory when their revised plan for groundwater sustainability convinced state regulators to cancel their consideration of probation for the subbasin under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. And in the first edition of Ag Alert’s® new Q&A series, On the Record, published by the California Farm Bureau, water manager Aaron Fukuda talks about navigating SGMA in the Kaweah Subbasin.
California program cultivates agricultural leadership skills
On the Voice of California Agriculture podcast, California Farm Bureau President Shannon Douglass interviewed Abby Taylor-Silva, executive vice president of the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation, about the foundation’s 17-month program that is designed to cultivate leadership skills. “They really saw the need for a program that could take people out of their everyday and build awareness of the world around them so that they could come back and be better leaders and really make an impact on California agriculture,” Taylor-Silva said of the program’s founders.
Longtime cattle ranchers raise yaks in the Sierra Nevada
Sierra Valley Yaks owners Greg and Jenna Gatto knew very little about yaks before they started raising them. Greg had owned a small herd of beef cattle for about 20 years. After moving to the Sierra Valley, where he met Jenna, he would keep the herd in the mountains during the summer but move them to the valley for winter. “I thought it would be really nice to have something here year-round,” Greg told California Bountiful® magazine, a publication of the California Farm Bureau. So, he started thinking about animals that would do well in a high elevation.
Researchers study pesto profitability for small-scale basil growers
A team of University of California Cooperative Extension advisors at the UC South Coast Research and Extension Center grew seven basil varieties last year as part of a study to explore whether producing pesto could provide a useful revenue stream for small-scale growers. “The rationale was to provide a high-value crop and a value-added solution for urban horticulture, transforming a highly perishable product into something that can be conserved,” said Gerardo Spinelli, UCCE production horticulture advisor for San Diego County, who initiated the project.
For more information about any story in Food and Farm News, contact the California Farm Bureau Marketing/Communications Division at 916-561-5550 or email news@cfbf.com. Connect with us on Facebook, X, or Instagram: @CAFarmBureau.
- Phone: (916) 561-5500
- Fax: (916) 561-4507
- Email: cfbf@cfbf.com
- 2600 River Plaza Dr.
- Sacramento, CA 95833
.svg.png?cacheid=0.9616018850896426)
