Monthly Archives: February 2015

Story by John Holland The rented bees arrived to find quite a feast in Mike Silveira’s almond orchard north of Oakdale. He had sown mustard seeds between the tree rows in the fall, and by mid-January, they had burst out in flowers full of pollen and nectar for the bees to eat. This helped them gain strength for the almond …

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is accepting public comments on its interim final rule for the new Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), designed to help producers protect working agricultural lands and wetlands. The 2014 Farm Bill consolidated three previous conservation easement programs into ACEP to make it easier for diverse agricultural landowners …

Secretary Karen Ross hearing about water usage and conservation at a Santa Cruz County farm this week. By Donna Jones The first step toward finding solutions to long-standing groundwater overdraft in the Pajaro Valley was to acknowledge the problem and agriculture’s contribution to it, said Miles Reiter, chairman and CEO of Driscoll’s Strawberry Associates Inc. Reiter’s remark came during a …

By Krysta Harden, Deputy Secretary, USDA To be a woman in agriculture is to face a unique set of challenges. And because I know all too well the trials that women can face as they look to take on leadership roles, I made it a goal as USDA’s Deputy Secretary to start a community for women leaders in agriculture. This …

By Jan Sears The work day starts early for Bishop, a gangly yellow lab, and his handler, Kristina Cummings. By 4:30 a.m. the two San Bernardino County agriculture department workers are on the job, checking out boxes that are being loaded onto trucks at UPS or Fed-Ex shipping hubs. The good-natured dog isn’t hunting for drugs or weapons – he’s …

Bird Health Awareness Week is from Feb. 24 through March 2. The USDA’s Animal Plant Health and Inspection Service (APHIS) is bringing poultry experts together for a webinar called, “Growing Chicks Into Healthy Chickens: Getting Ready for Spring,” to be held on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. (EST). The webinar is hosted by the Chicken Whisperer and will feature veterinarians. Registration …