Agriculture

The San Benito County Saddle Horse Show & Rodeo kicked off rodeo week on June 22 with the annual rodeo parade in downtown Hollister.  The procession began with a traditional cattle drive down the middle of San Benito Street, featuring dozens of steers, longhorn cattle...

California’s water storage and delivery systems are in good shape heading into the rainy season, having benefited from last year’s near-historic rain and snowfall totals, according to the state’s top water managers.  Coming off three years of punishing drought conditions, last year was the sixth...

San Benito County supervisors recently decided to restrict new housing in four geographical areas that encompass significant swaths of the county’s unincorporated agricultural, open space or vacant land. But some local residents at the last board meeting decried the move as “political theater,” while voicing...

Due to critically dry hydrologic conditions, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) is updating water supply allocations for Central Valley Project (CVP) municipal and industrial water service contractors.  Effective April 1, water supply for all Central Valley Project Municipal & Industrial (M&I) water service contractors...

Getting to the Sweepstakes round at the largest wine competition in North America takes a wine that outshines and outlasts 5,700 entries from more than 1,000 wineries in North America, Mexico and Canada.  The San Francisco Chronicle is not only the first official wine competition...

Wildfires and climate change are locked in a vicious circle: Fires worsen climate change, and climate change worsens fires. Scientists, including those at the World Resources Institute, have been increasingly sounding the alarm about this feedback loop, warning that fires don’t burn in isolation—they produce...

The proponents of a local initiative that would require voter approval before rural and agricultural property owners in San Benito County can rezone their land have gained enough signatures to place the measure on the November ballot, according to sources. The results are not official,...

To celebrate Earth Day, Performance Food Group on April 22 held an open house event in Gilroy to show how they have created a sustainable distribution model at the company’s local facility. In collaboration with a number of vendors in the transportation and distribution industries,...

In a milestone for creating a major new source of drinking water, California has approved its first standards for turning sewage into potable water supplies delivered to homes and businesses. The State Water Resources Control Board, in a unanimous vote Dec. 19, outlined for the...

A collaboration of area land trusts recently secured permanent conservation rights for the historic 540-acre Nyland property in San Benito County.  The Trust for Public Land, the San Benito Agricultural Land Trust, the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County and the Amah Mutsun Land Trust...