…the heart of American farming. Van Groningen, dubbed the “Pumpkin King of California,” joined the show from Manteca, where his family farm grows over 60 varieties of pumpkins ranging from…
Bill Jones: Fixing California’s Water and Future
…doesn’t protect its water infrastructure. “We’re all environmentalists,” Jones said. “Farmers are the first environmentalists. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t survive. Good policy allows us to protect the environment and…
Nat DiBuduo: Politics, Water & California Farming
…Memorial. Everything was surrounded by tree fruit and grapes back then.” From Family Farms to City Limits Today, much of the farmland that shaped DiBuduo’s youth has been replaced by…
Nat DiBuduo, the “Godfather of Grapes,” on the Future of California Wine and Farming
…change he sees as both inevitable and troubling. “Farmers can’t compete with developers when it’s this hard to farm in California,” he said. “Regulations, labor, and water costs keep rising…
Ethnic Roots of American Agriculture: How Immigrants Shaped U.S. Farming
…and livestock management techniques distinct from English, Scottish, or Irish farmers. Each group contributed to the evolving farming culture that defined rural America. Immigrants Start as Wage Laborers Many immigrants…
The Roots of 4-H: Jessie Shambaugh and the Birth of American Agricultural Youth
…in American Agriculture What began as Jessie Shambaugh’s small effort to encourage youth involvement in farming has become a global symbol of agricultural leadership and community service. Today, 4-H programs…
Celebrating the Valley’s Bounty: The Whole Vine Festival Returns to Fresno State
…curiosity that may lead to future careers in agriculture. “This is pre-FFA,” he said. “You get young kids involved, and they might get into farming when they get older.” Honoring…
Karen Ross on Water, Workforce, and the Future of California Agriculture
…the sameness in farming, if you’ve seen one farm, you’ve seen one farm,” Ross noted. “Understanding regional specifics helps us see where people are working together to really lean into…
Karen Ross Talks Water, Regulation, and Prop 50 Silence on AgNet News Hour
…mix of climate uncertainty and government regulation has made farming even more difficult. Still, she emphasized that the future can be bright if farmers and policymakers work together on education,…
Elaine Culotti: Fighting for California’s Farmers and Future
…to many as the “Fresno Undercover Billionaire” and “The Lipstick Farmer.” From her Fallbrook farm to national television, Culotti has emerged as a bold voice for California agriculture and a…
How the Smith-Lever Act Created 4-H and Transformed Rural America
…and leadership among the next generation of farmers and rural citizens. The Birth of the 4-H Movement From these early youth programs, the National 4-H Organization was born. Representing the…
David Tangipa: Fighting for California Farmers and Rejecting Proposition 50
…the fourth-generation farmer who didn’t do what our great-grandparents did,” he said. “We got a little lazy, and now we’re losing the farm.” California’s prosperity, he argued, was built by…
Why Prop 50 Threatens Rural Representation: California Farm Bureau President Shannon Douglass
…those products and everybody up the chain involved in the marketing and sales of those.” Yet farms are disappearing at an alarming rate. “We lost 20% of the farms in…
David Tangipa Slams Insurance Commissioner and Prop 50 on AgNet News Hour
…could drive fuel prices higher. Still, he urged farmers to stay lean and keep fighting: “It’s my turn to give back to the families who saved my life. Farmers feed…