Agriculture

On Jan. 19, 21 Gilroy FFA members traveled to Hollister High School to compete against five other schools at the annual sectional Super Saturday LDE competition.  Through Leadership Development Events, participating FFA members in grades nine to 12 are challenged to develop critical thinking skills...

More than 1,400 people attended Gilroy High School FFA’s third annual Farm Day, which sought to teach the community about the value of farming and youth leadership. The event at the FFA barn on Kern Avenue welcomed everyone who wanted to learn more about the...

Most true lovers of pinot noir have made a pilgrimage to Calera Winery in Hollister, the place that firmly established North America’s ability to produce “the heartbreak grape.”  Calera Wine Company, established in 1975 in the remote hills of San Benito County, was the beautiful...

The 90th San Benito County Saddle Horse Show & Rodeo treated crowds to traditional competition events, performances, exhibitions, demonstrations and vendors at the fairgrounds in Tres Pinos June 28-30.  Participants from youth to seniors competed in barrel racing, bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping, mutton...

The Amah Mutsun Land Trust board of directors appointed Noelle Chambers as its new executive director.  Chambers is the former Vice President of Conservation at Peninsula Open Space Trust, where she worked for 20 years and helped execute the successful protection and transfer of 30,000...

Santa Cruz and Monterey counties were included in a list of areas statewide where people have been severely sickened by Amanita phalloides—commonly known as the death cap mushroom. A group of doctors from across California warned Jan. 14 that foraging for wild mushrooms can be...

Praise be to the gods of pizza and pasta, and wine. Fridays and Saturdays have already become legend at Little Uvas and DeRose Vineyards on Fitzgerald Avenue in San Martin, where the hospitality flows like wine, and the woodfired pizza oven turns out pies...

As vineyard manager at the 7,000-acre Paicines Ranch in San Benito County, Kelly Mulville has a rather significant task: he’s trying to practice organic, regenerative farming on 25 acres of vines while surrounded by hundreds of acres of vineyards being conventionally farmed.  “Our underlying philosophy...

State Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, and state Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Bakersfield, introduced legislation to create a tax credit for agricultural employers to help cover the cost of paying overtime wages to farmworkers.   Senate Bill 921, co-sponsored by the California Farm Bureau and the California Association...

Lifelong San Martin resident Kenneth Ludewig, a local “treasure” who brought joy to countless South Valley residents as the creator and operator of the former San Martin Country Park & Pumpkin Patch, died unexpectedly on Nov. 7, according to family members. He was 74...