…unpredictable weather. Without established towns or infrastructure, settlers built rough lean-tos or small, one-room log cabins from nearby timber. Life was primitive, yet perseverance defined these early Americans. Hunting Before…
Don Wagner Calls for Common Sense in Sacramento: Ag, Water, and the Future of California
…to decades of political gridlock and poor decision-making that have crippled business, agriculture, and infrastructure. “We don’t have a resource problem,” Wagner said. “We have a government problem. It’s bad…
Beef Plan, Spray Tech, and AI: California Ag Eyes Relief and Reinvention
…water infrastructure inches forward. Rounding out the episode, University of Florida’s Dr. Nathan Boyd joined from FIRA to compare Florida and California specialty crops and explain why labor is his…
F3 Innovate: Powering the Central Valley’s AgTech Revolution
…agricultural future. As a nonprofit founded in the heart of California’s farming hub, F3 Innovate is focused on building the critical infrastructure for agriculture’s next era—one defined by innovation, technology,…
Verdant Robotics: Revolutionizing Farming with Precision AI and Automation
…in 2019. Initially, the company focused on specialty fixed-infrastructure crops such as cherries and apples, achieving a strong product-market fit. The challenge, however, was the limited seasonal opportunities—just one harvest…
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…
Bill Jones: “California Will Come Back Stronger Than Ever”
…a 40-million-person economy on 60-year-old infrastructure.” Still, Jones ended on a note of optimism. “California is great already,” he said. “We’ve come back from bad leadership three times before —…
Karen Ross Talks Water, Regulation, and Prop 50 Silence on AgNet News Hour
…and support agriculture at the same time,” McGill said. The episode ended with a call for leadership, accountability, and faster water infrastructure action. As Papagni put it, “Water leads to…
Elaine Culotti: Fighting for California’s Farmers and Future
…relate to them,” she said. “He’s given me a platform because he cares about what’s happening in California.” She explained that poor management has stalled essential infrastructure projects for months….
Elaine Culotti, the “Lipstick Farmer,” Warns Farmers on Prop 50 and California’s Mismanagement
…can’t build a high-speed rail is a joke,” she said. She argued for private-public partnerships and conservative fiscal management to make infrastructure profitable again. She also highlighted California’s homelessness crisis,…
How Rural Electrification Transformed U.S. Farms
…a year later, President Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act (REA), providing low-interest federal loans to cooperatives so communities could build power lines and infrastructure. This groundbreaking policy marked the…
California’s Water Puzzle: Insights from Avid Water’s Cory Broad
…drip line. Beyond infrastructure, they also assist with irrigation scheduling and crop advising, ensuring systems run efficiently year-round. Fertigation: Precision and Cost Efficiency Labor shortages and high operating costs have…
Corey Broad of Avid Water on California’s Fixable Water Crisis
…built a road since 1979,” he said, drawing a parallel to California’s outdated water infrastructure. Broad also warned of uncertainty heading into 2026. Many Westside growers are forced to make…
Pistachios, Water & Trade: Kreps on Farming’s Future
…of pistachio farming discussions. Kreps emphasized that the state receives enough annual rainfall and snowpack to supply five years of water, if only more storage infrastructure were built. Instead, California…