Water-pumping limits and monitoring are coming to some areas of the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin after the state approved a plan that aims to re-balance use in the critically overdrafted region. On Thursday, the California Department of Water Resources signed off on the Paso Robles groundwater sustainability plan, along with several others across the state.

SACRAMENTO — Farm Credit is the largest provider of credit to U.S. agriculture, but its support goes much deeper than that. Farm Credit is also committed to the sustainability and long-term viability of agriculture and rural communities and strongly supports non-profits working to preserve and protect California agriculture. In 2022, the Farm Credit Alliance – AgWest Farm Credit, American Ag Credit, CoBank, Colusa-Glenn Farm Credit, ...

Upcoming Events

1. Small Farm Tech Day, City Farm SLO: 3/6

Cal Poly

2. Succulent Blow Out, Poly Plant Shop: 3/11   

3. NCAT/Cal Poly Follow the Sun AgriSolar Tour and AgriSolar Webinar: 4/4 

4. Environmental review pathways: Prescribed Fire webinar: 4/6

San Luis Obispo

7. Livestock Handling, Leatherwork & Electricity, Ranch Ed Program, Cuesta College: 3/4,15,16

8. Non-profit Mondays at SLO Provisions, SLO Food System Coalition: 3/6,13,20,27

9. N. American Strawberry Growers Association Meeting and Symposium, San Luis Obispo: 3/7-10

10. Queens, queens, queens! Central Coast Beekeepers Alliance, Santa Margarita: 3/9

11. Vineyard Water Management UC Seminar, San Luis Obispo: 3/10 

12. Love SLO Day of Service: 3/11

13. Chumash Ethnobotany, SLO Botanical Garden: 3/11

14. Spring Gardening: Seed Starting and Vegetable Tips, UC Master Gardeners: 3/18

March/April 2023 California Bountiful magazine

Considering the agricultural mecca that is the Golden State, it may come as no surprise that many school cafeterias take advantage of the bounty by serving fresh, California-grown foods as part of the state farm-to-school program.

For years, schools have been bulking up their salad bars with fruits and vegetables from local farms and using more locally grown ingredients in student meals. Now, some school districts are taking “farm to school” to a new level by adding a major food staple to the menu: local wheat. ...

As San Luis Obispo County cracks down on property owners hosting weddings, fundraisers and other private events without the proper permits, some are struggling to get their properties up to code. In fact, property owners told the San Luis Obispo County Board ...

Paso Robles Mayor Steve Martin is taking time off of community matters due to a serious health concern, the city announces Thursday morning. Mayor Martin is currently receiving treatment and is forced to "temporarily divert his time and attention away from community matters", the city said in a press release.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a State of Emergency for 13 California Counties, including San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties, due to the winter storms. The emergency proclamation will activate the California National Guard to provide support to operations.

U.S. Representative Jimmy Panetta (CA-19) and the San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau held a town hall to connect local farmers, ranchers, and agricultural businesses with federal disaster resources following the recent storms. 

Committees will focus on offshore wind and students with disabilities - Assemblywoman Dawn Addis, (D-Morro Bay) has been appointed as chairperson of two Assembly select [...]

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall spent four and a half hours before the House Agriculture Committee Tuesday outlining the challenges facing America's farmers and ranchers. Duvall joined five other agriculture industry leaders in testifying and taking questions from lawmakers during the hearing titled " Uncertainty, ...

California & 2023 Farm Bill Investment in agriculture is an investment in our nation's future. The federal Farm Bill, typically renewed every five years, gives policymakers ...

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) releases projections on expected spending for farm programs for the 10-year baseline - the current budget year plus 10 years - up to three times a year. CBO's most recent Baseline for Farm Programs was released on Feb. 15.

A local electricity provider is incentivizing farm owners on the Central Coast to go all-electric through rebates. They're expanding their services to help farmers efficiently convert their equipment. Central Coast Community Energy (3CE), works with PG&E and Southern California Edison to provide electricity to the Central Coast.

California's only nuclear power plant can stay open past 2025, possibly as much as another 20 years, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday in a critical decision for the state's power grid. The NRC shared the decision in a letter to PG&E on Thursday morning, giving it the OK ...

A new kind of gold rush is underway on the West Coast - but this time, it's not underground. A short distance off California's wild and rugged coastline, nearly 600 square miles of ocean have been designated for the development of sprawling wind farms, a sign that the Pacific is fast becoming the next frontier of California's clean-energy economy.

The California farm lands have needed water to remedy the dry drought areas for the longest time. Well, according to the National Weather Service, here comes more forecasted precipitation and low temperatures for California. The California Department of Water Resources reports that the season-to-date precipitation is 150 percent of normal in many areas from the Sierra Nevada.

The performance of individual organic produce categories ranged widely last year, according to the "State of Organic Produce 2022," a report released by the Organic Produce Network. The 72-page report provides an overall view of organic produce retail performance in 2022 as well as specific insights into the top 20 organic produce categories.

The National Council of Agricultural Employers said it has "grave concern" over the publication of a new wage rule for use in the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker Program. The Department of Labor regulation, which started its rule-making journey in July 2019, was published in the Federal Register on Feb. 28.

March 2, 2023 For agricultural employers, the latest decision from the Department of Industrial Relations' Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board (OSHAB) is indeed noteworthy. We now know that potable water must be provided to outdoor workers in a location that is "as close as practicable" to promote frequent intake, especially during the hot summer days.

The California Cattlemen's Association hosted a dinner for local cattlemen in Paso Robles Thursday night. The dinner allowed the state's association to inform the local association on what it is trying to do to help and inform them on the state of the cattle industry.

The supply of chicken available to eat in the United States continues to outpace beef, according to food availability data from the USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS). In 2021, 68.1 pounds of chicken per person were available for human consumption (on a boneless, edible basis), compared with 56.2 pounds of beef.

Watch this interview featuring Audra Cooper from Turrentine Brokerage as she describes results of the 2022 Central Coast grape harvest and its impact on the local wine market. The lighter crush was followed by unusually early activity in the wine market. ..

California winegrape crush numbers for 2022 were recently released, reflecting another year below average. The California Grape Crush Preliminary Report shows that total wine tonnage was 3,350,000 tons at $944 per ton. That number represents ...

PASO ROBLES, Calif. (AP) - A winery on California's central coast has been shut down for operating without a license to sell alcohol, and officials said it never had one, to begin with since opening three years ago.

Wine grape quality is directly linked to berry composition, which can be significantly determined by canopy microclimate. In California, extreme heat waves along with excessive solar radiation have jeopardized ...

Sacramento, Calif. - The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today announced decisions for groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) for 12 critically overdrafted groundwater basins in Central California.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) - On Thursday, the California Department of Water Resources released a map identifying 12 California groundwater basins that are critically overdrafted. 6 of the basins were deemed approved, but the remaining 6, including the one in Kern County, have been deemed inadequate.

California is looking very different than it did just six months ago. In Sept. 2022, the whole state was in a drought and both San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties were seeing severe, extreme and exceptional drought. Fast forward to today and most of the state is ranging from no drought to moderate drought and only some spots of severe drought.

Tremendous rains and snowfall since late last year have freed half of California from drought, but low groundwater levels remain a persistent problem, U.S. Drought Monitor data showed Thursday. The latest survey found that moderate or severe drought covers about 49% of the state, nearly 17% of the state is free of drought or a condition described as abnormally dry.