California's dry streak is unlikely to break this winter. State water officials say the nation's most populous state should prepare for another dry year ahead. The most recent water year ended Friday, marking the state's driest three-year stretch on record. Reservoirs that store water for th…
As California’s drought deepens, more rural communities are running out of water. Heavy pumping is depleting groundwater supplies that aren’t being replenished by rain and snowmelt. More than …
The Center for Whale Research says the population of endangered southern resident orcas has declined from 74 to 73 in its latest census. The center posted on Facebook this week that it had com…
Former executives and directors of Pacific Gas & Electric have agreed to pay $117 million to settle a lawsuit over devastating 2017 and 2018 California wildfires sparked by the utility’s e…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has approved one of the most contentious bills before him this year. It's a measure aiding efforts by farmworkers to unionize that was backed by President Joe Bide…
California's power shortages have prompted produce company Taylor Farms to build its own microgrid at one of its facilities. Data from the U.S. Department of Energy show that other organizatio…
California has temporarily banned insurance companies from dropping customers in areas impacted by recent wildfires. California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara invoked a law aimed at prote…
The California Air Resources Board will vote, perhaps in October, on banning new diesel trucks of all types by 2040, putting Washington state on the same path.
The California Supreme Court is allowing the state to consider protecting threatened bumblebees under a conservation law listing for fish. The court has refused to grant a review sought by far…
CORVALLIS, Ore. — A team of Oregon State University brewing researchers and bioengineers from a company called Berkeley Yeast has demonstrated that a strain of genetically modified yeast can i…
A major storm that battered western Alaska over the weekend churned through Northern California on Monday after bringing early-season snow to mountains and dropping rain that helped firefighte…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a package of bills aimed at moving away from reliance on fossil fuel-based energy. The sweeping package signed Friday includes legislation creating a fr…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden administration plans to develop floating platforms in the deep ocean for wind towers that could power millions of homes and vastly expand offshore wind generation …
Firefighters again prevented flames from entering a Northern California mountain town and reported major progress against the week-old blaze that’s become the largest in the state so far this …
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and her three West Coast colleagues reflected during a conference this week on how they are coping with the reality of climate change and what they are doing to reduce t…
California's Imperial Valley, which provides many of the nation’s winter vegetables and cattle feed, has one of the strongest grips on water from the Colorado River, a critical but over-tapped…
A new study by the University of California-Berkeley suggests marijuana farms in that state may be uniquely vulnerable to wildfires compared to other agricultural crops based on their historic…
Southern California welcomed cooler temperatures and spotty rain Saturday as a tropical storm veered off the Pacific Coast and faded, helping put an end to a blistering heat wave that nearly o…
California firefighters are struggling to gain control of major California wildfires that have grown explosively and forced extensive evacuations amid a searing heat wave. The deadly and destr…
MANTECA, Calif. — Ninety-eight years ago, an 18-year-old immigrant from Sicily was looking for land in California to grow grapes. He found it in San Joaquin County. Today six members of the In…
The University of California Cooperative Extension has a slice of sweet news for watermelon growers: Farmers may be able to produce stronger, higher-yield, more disease-resistant watermelon cr…
Ducks Unlimited recently secured a $2.6 million federal grant to install four new pumping stations that project leaders say will help make the most of limited water at the wildlife sanctuary, …
An alliance of specialty crop growers says next year’s farm bill should feature a bigger investment in making the segment more competitive and sustainable, and include more spending on research.
West Coast attorneys general oppose expanding a pipeline that crosses Idaho, Washington and Oregon and carries natural gas, including biogas from a dairy. They have asked the Federal Energy Re…
Millions of dollars of federal funding is beginning to flow into the drought-stricken Klamath Basin, which will be used for a variety of projects to improve water quality, irrigation efficienc…
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — After initially indicating it would defy the federal government’s order to shut off water to the Klamath Project, the Klamath Irrigation District closed the A Canal when …
When Al Courchesne decided to quit his teaching job in Hawaii to farm in California, he got some good advice. “I came here as a complete novice, and the first local farmer I talked to said, ‘P…
Some farm groups and Republican lawmakers are criticizing USDA for its decision to partner with United Farm Workers, a labor union, on a pilot project. In June, USDA set plans for a $65 millio…
Farm Credit West and Northwest Farm Credit Services, agricultural lending associations within the Farm Credit System, are pursuing a potential merger.
PORT HUENEME, Calif. — Dona Toteva Lacayo and her coworkers at the Port of Hueneme run a tight ship. She helps manage the Port of Hueneme — pronounced why-nee-me — a small, deep-water cargo po…
Walk into any grocery store, and chances are you will be greeted by rows of perfectly ripe strawberries. Until recently, each of those berries would have been individually hand-picked by legio…
California farmers thinking about buying an electric tractor may be enticed with an extra financial incentive under the state's newly expanded Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher Incentive Progra…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The USDA has agreed to purchase $52 million of Pacific Northwest seafood to help buoy an industry hard-hit by COVID-19 and other market disruptions. The agreement includes $…
Several large wildfires are tearing across the West, fueled by dry, windy conditions exacerbated by a heat wave that hit in late July and is continuing into early August. Four large wildfires …
Researchers at the University of California-Davis have discovered genes that make strawberry plants resistant to a deadly soil-borne disease called Fusarium wilt.
SACRAMENTO — California’s 159th State Fair returned this year after a COVID-induced absence with fun, food and lots of animals.
The USDA has awarded a $100,000 grant to the nonprofit Western Landowners Alliance to test new non-lethal tools ranchers can use to protect their livestock from wolves.
USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service forecasts that California's 2022 almond crop will be 11% smaller than last year due to frost damage earlier this year and ongoing drought.
GOLETA, Calif. — Over 20 years ago, a University of California farm adviser had an idea: to find new, viable, value-added crops that would benefit farmers. His answer: coffee.
AUBURN, Calif. — The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that manages water in the West, will use targeted grazing with goats this summer through fall to reduce wildfire threats in …
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is suing an irrigation district in the Klamath Project for allegedly making illegal water diversions in the midst of a multi-year drought.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision not to review a case regarding worker classifications could force up to 70,000 of California's truck owner-operators off the road, a trucking organization said.
On the precipice of the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, researchers at Oregon State University are partnering with a northern California tribe to envision what lies ahead for the …
Farmers and ranchers in California's Sacramento Valley face a cutoff of irrigation water this year, marking the first time they have received no supplies for their operations.
Below-normal precipitation, above-normal temperatures expected. Fuel loading remains concern following dry spring.
A California agency has cleared the way for the Oakland Athletics, a Major League Baseball team better known as the A's, to continue planning a $12 billion waterfront ballpark project at a sit…
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — Farmers, ranchers and tribal members alike are urging the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation not to extend its interim operations plan for the Klamath Project, describing it as "…
Trucking companies and related industries are gearing up for "clean" truck mandates and similar rules to go into effect across the West Coast — in California, Oregon and Washington.
A clash between the shipping industry and Oakland Athletics, an American baseball team better known as the A’s, could have ripple effects on shippers, especially agricultural exporters.
WILLITS, Calif. — Shamrock Artisan cheesemakers Gilbert and Ana Cox have been practicing their art of cheese making for over 37 years.
BOISE — Much of the West will face an above-normal risk of big wildfires by late summer despite a wet spring in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
SACRAMENTO — A California appeals court has ruled that, under certain circumstances, bees are now legally considered fish and can be protected as such under the state’s endangered species law.…
PASCO, Wash. — Nuclear energy fits the bill "perfectly" for the nation's future energy needs, speakers told lawmakers and agricultural stakeholders.
PASCO, Wash. — Removing the four lower Snake River dams would mean the equivalent of losing enough electricity to power all the households in Seattle, Portland, Spokane and Boise, agricultural…
The wholesale price of electricity will rise in the Northwest this summer as drought-stricken California buys energy from neighboring states to offset a nearly 50% reduction in hydropower, the…
