Saturday, September 17 - Formerly known as Coastal Cleanup Day and Creek Day - this year has joined forces with the Central Coast Partners for Water Quality to bring you an even bigger and better event - SLO County Creeks to Coast Cleanup!

Since 2005, ECOSLO coordinates beach cleanups from San Simeon to Nipomo as part of an international day of cleanup. Even though Central Coast beaches are cleaner than some, last year we removed nearly 4,000 pounds of trash and recyclables from our beaches, waterways and lakes.

This year, we're combining efforts to bring all of SLO County together to clean our beautiful watersheds and coastline - from the creeks to the coast!

Please click 'Read More' to view the cleanups sites available to volunteer at. Locations are listed from North county to South county. Complete your registration and you'll be confirmed for that location! Please check our event page for more information http://ecoslo.org/creeks-to-coast.

The weather might not have received the memo, but Fall is definitely here along the SLO County Farm Trail. Check out all the Fall-tastic things going on.

Redwings Horse Sanctuary Presents:

REDWINGS BLOCK PARTY

Co-hosted with CASS Winery

September 18 | 11a - 3p

Read about more events from FARMstead ED!

As regenerative agriculture is reshaping how food is grown, a panel of organic industry leaders will address the trends and standards of regenerative organic marketing and certification at the Organic Grower Summit 2022 Presented by Western Growers and OPN, slated for November 30-December 1 in Monterey, CA.

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY - Nearly $6 million of 2022-23 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant funding was approved to be allocated to Community-Based Organizations (CBO) in San Luis Obispo County to address the goals of the countywide Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).

So far this election cycle, we've written about the Grover Beach, Atascadero, and Paso Robles city council races. And with hundreds of seats up for grabs on local governing bodies, New Times is just getting started.

Three acres of cannabis cultivation near the Carrizo Plain and California Valley cleared an appeal on Sept. 13 in a rare unanimous vote from the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors supporting a challenged cannabis project. Local environmental activist Patrick McGibney appealed the 3-acre outdoor grow approved last year by a county planning officer.

Monarch Tractor's recent petition to Cal/OSHA may have been denied, but this outcome is not the setback many fear. On June 16, 2022, Cal/OSHA's 4-3 opinion to deny petition 596 was the decision heard around the agricultural world.

New big rigs and other trucks will have to be zero-emissions in 2040 - ending their decades-long reliance on high-polluting diesel - under a proposed regulation unveiled by the California Air Resources Board.

The opponents of Proposition 30, a proposal to tax millionaires to fund electric car incentives and infrastructure, want California voters to keep one thing in mind when they decide how to vote on the measure: Gavin Newsom's face.

In 2021, California's farms and ranches received $51.1 billion for their output. This represents a 3.6 percent increase compared to the previous year, according to calculations by the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), in partnership with CDFA. California's agricultural abundance includes more than 400 commodities.

Instead of the Centers for Disease Control, imagine for a minute that Washington's political pundits or even U.S. Senators and Representatives had been the ones in charge of setting our national health policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Obviously, this would amount to a complete abandonment of science in favor of politics.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Republican State Senator Brian Dahle are slated to debate for the California Governor's race in late October, Dahle confirmed Friday. Dahle told KCRA 3 the debate will happen either Oct. 23 or Oct. 25. The campaigns were still working on nailing down an exact date as of Friday afternoon.

In California's heated debate over farmworker voting rights, Democratic Party leaders are increasingly closing ranks against the state's governor, who refuses to sign a bill to make it easier for workers to win union recognition. After a march by workers and supporters from Delano to Sacramento, President Biden himself weighed in.

The Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, welcome Wednesday's announcement from USDA advancing climate-smart pilot projects. Micheal Clements shares more on the $2.8 billion investment. Clements: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Wednesday announced funding for climate-smart pilot projects under the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program.

Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities is part of USDA's broader strategy to position agriculture and forestry as leaders in climate change mitigation through voluntary, incentive-based, market-driven approaches. Visit usda.gov/climate-smart-commodities to learn more about this effort, and usda.gov/climate-solutions for climate-related updates, resources and tools across the Department.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2022 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has imposed sanctions on five produce businesses for failing to meet contractual obligations to the sellers of produce they purchased and failing to pay reparation awards issued under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA).

If freight trains stop rolling, the result could be chaos for business, shortages for consumers, and fresh momentum for rising prices. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.

"I don't think we're in a situation of food insecurity at this point, but it's really just a reminder that warmer temperatures can bring some more challenges to produce many of the agricultural commodities we traditionally see," he said.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Lower gas costs slowed U.S. inflation for a second straight month in August, but most other prices across the economy kept rising - evidence that inflation remains a heavy burden for American households. Consumer prices rose 8.3% from a year earlier and 0.1% from July.

Britain's new King Charles III is a committed environmentalist with a long history of campaigning for better conservation, organic farming and tackling climate change, which is likely to sit well with more eco-conscious younger Britons. Interspersed between photos of official meetings and other royal duties, his Instagram account as Prince of Wales typically featured pictures showing him furthering environmental causes in Britain and beyond.

As California baked under record-high temperatures last Tuesday and the state's residents turned up their air conditioners to cope, electricity consumption hit an all-time peak. The record demand of more than 52,000 megawatts was experienced in the 80% of the state's electric power system managed by the Independent System Operator and was a successful stress test for the grid.

In 1966, when Pacific Gas & Electric proposed building a two-reactor nuclear plant at Diablo Canyon on California's Central Coast, it sparked a bitter fight within the Sierra Club, which was then the nation's most powerful environmental group. The Sierra Club's director,

A proposed plan that would bring a large-scale energy storage facility to Morro Bay is up for discussion Wednesday night.

The Vistra Energy Battery Storage Project is set to be built in the location of the vacant Morro Bay Power Plant.

The California Avocado Commission Board of Directors are hosting district meetings on September 13 (Ventura) and September 20 (Fallbrook) in an effort to directly connect with their grower constituents. These meetings, which will closely follow a “town hall” format, will be run by the grower-elected Commissioners with the goal of providing an update on Commission operations, as well as gather input from growers. Growers are encouraged to come prepared with ideas, questions and comments and plan to be engaged in open dialogue and conversation about the future of the California avocado industry. 

By Kevin Hecteman A big jump in prices early in the season helped lead to a smaller haul, tonnagewise, for California avocado farmers this year. So did a shortage of precipitation, said Will Pidduck, who grows avocados and lemons in Ventura County. "Our crop was a moderately sized crop," Pidduck said.

PUBLISHED ON LOS ANGELES - While bees are not typically considered vital in the growing of strawberries, a new study from The Cal Poly Strawberry Center and Beeflow will explore the use of managed honeybees in strawberry pollination.

If the Israeli cow is the world champion milk producer, if Israel has superior wheat for pasta and bread, if tomatoes grow year-round and citrus fruits are peelable and pit-free-we can thank Yitzhak Elazari Wilkanski. This agricultural scientist, who immigrated to Ottoman Palestine in 1908 from Lithuania and changed his last name to Volcani, established the Agricultural Experiment Station at Ben Shemen in 1921.

How do you like your tomatoes? Maybe on a sandwich or in a caprese salad? Or perhaps you prefer the processed versions - pasta sauce, pizza sauce or, of course, America's favorite condiment: ketchup. Americans consume upward of 30 pounds of the fruit a year, three-quarters of that in processed form.

The U.S. Department of Commerce actively tracks organic food in 37 export and 57 import categories. Tracked exports and imports of organic products in the United States reached $3.4 billion in 2021.

When is it appropriate to fire an employee and how should you go about doing it properly to prevent negative repercussions? At the Annual Convention of the Almond Alliance of California, Stacy Henderson, Almond Alliance's go-to attorney for ag labor law, shared some key insights every ag employer should know.

"Si Se Puede!" chanted thousands of farmworkers as they marched toward the state capitol in Sacramento last month - for some of them, it is the end of a 24-day, 335-mile pilgrimage in sweltering August heat. Their goal: To convince Gov.

The City of Paso Robles continues its efforts to reduce community risk from wildfires. Recently, in the Salinas River corridor, over 850 goats were utilized to reduce hazardous fuel loading. In total, grazing operations lasted 77 days, treating over 95 acres, at a cost of approximately $62,000.

FORESTHILL, Calif. (AP) - Firefighters again prevented flames from entering a Northern California mountain town and reported major progress Thursday against the week-old blaze that's become the largest in the state so far this year. Conditions at the Mosquito Fire about 110 miles (177 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco were "looking a whole heck of a lot better," according to fire spokesman Scott McLean.

The U.S. Forest Service is resuming its prescribed burning program with new rules that it says will minimize the risk of fires escaping control and damaging communities. The announcement comes after a 90-day pause prompted by a pair of escaped burns that merged into the largest wildfire in New Mexico history and destroyed hundreds of homes.

Counties within the state of California are considering the ban of certain rodeo devices. The two most prominent counties in contention are Los Angeles and Alameda counties.

Los Angeles County does not host a rodeo within its borders but will still vote on an amended ordinance, and Alameda County hosts the Rowell Ranch Rodeo.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Ohio hog farmer Joe Brandt changed his operation a few years ago to give his pigs more room and keep pregnant sows out of the narrow crates used by most farms. Brandt said he wanted to treat his pigs more humanely, but in doing so he also created a niche for his family business amid heightened concerns about the treatment of animals, and that enabled him to charge higher prices for the pigs.

MoneyWatch Americans are paying more than ever for turkey as a contagious virus leads to the destruction of millions of birds. The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus is helping drive the price of turkey - specifically white boneless breast meat - to record highs, even as the hottest inflation in 40 years has cooled some in recent months.

Because of the recent heat wave, some wine-makers are saying the warm temperatures caused their grapes to ripen early, and it is affecting their harvest schedule and business.

Wolff Vineyards' owner Jean-Pierre Wolff says his team is picking two weeks earlier than anticipated.

The Independent Grape Growers of the Paso Robles Area (IGGPRA) announced they're bringing back the Harvest Hoedown, a traditional celebration of the season's harvest for local grape growers and wineries alike. Paso Robles has approximately 40,000 acres of wine grapes. Many of these acres are owned by boutique wineries and vineyards, some as small as only five acres.

September 9, 2022 The heat spike over the last week has compounded the effects of the already- light crop, resulting in lower yields throughout the Central Coast. We've heard that parts of Monterey County are down as much as 50%, and Santa Barbara County is estimated to be 30-40% down.

On a warm day in late June, Bob Schiebelhut walks between the rows of wine grapes at Tolosa Winery 's Edna Valley vineyards just south of San Luis Obispo. The dry soil crunches beneath Schiebelhut's shoes as he bends over to pick up a small grape seedling that is waiting to be planted.

Fred Franzia, the wine behemoth who ruffled feathers in the industry by insisting no good bottle should ever cost more than $10, died Tuesday at his California home, according to family. A cause of death was not immediately clear. He was 79.

Vineyards in San Luis Obispo County are in the middle of harvest season, continuing a rich history of winemaking on the Central Coast. The small San Luis Obispo County city of Paso Robles is capitalizing on the area's unique climate, quickly growing to rival areas like Napa and Sonoma as a wine destination.

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act is designed to force an end to groundwater depletion but does not actually "kick in" until 2040. A requirement to create a sustainability plan for the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin was submitted by the county, rejected, and then resubmitted.

We are learning more about a water recycling project in the works in the Five Cities. Central Coast Blue -- a regional recycled water project -- was the topic of a rare joint city council meeting between Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach and Pismo Beach Wednesday night.

Californians should brace for another year of La Niña as the stubborn climate pattern in the tropical Pacific is expected to persist for a third consecutive year, forecasters say. The latest outlook, published Thursday by the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center, has increased the chances of La Niña sticking around through November to 91%, a near certainty.

A group of property owners in one San Luis Obispo County community can't build homes on their lots due to a severe lack of water, a federal judge ruled recently. U.S. Central California District Court Judge Dale S. Fischer made her ruling on Sept.