SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has proclaimed states of emergency in Santa Barbara and Monterey counties to help the process of recovery from recent wildfires. The proclamations allow the California Department of Transportation to request immediate federal assistance for highway r…
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 "…
California authorities say a Sierra Nevada wildfire has destroyed one building and is a threat to 250 homes and other structures. Cal Fire says the Rices Fire has grown to about 900 acres near…
Swaths of private California forestlands will be closed to the public due to extreme drought and risk of wildfires. Sierra Pacific Industries says the closure will take effect July 1 and will …
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.
SACRAMENTO — California officials are weighing whether to list the iconic western Joshua tree as a threatened species, a designation that would make it harder to remove the trees for housing, …
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.
VERNON, Calif. — Meat-packing giant Smithfield Foods will close its only California plant next year, citing the escalating cost of doing business in the state. The Farmer John meat-packing pla…
Bottles of the popular Sriracha hot sauce could be hard to find on store shelves this summer. Southern California-based Huy Fong Inc., told customers in an email earlier this year that it woul…
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…
Some California lawmakers want to use taxpayer money to purchase water rights from farmers. The proposal by Senate Democrats aims to keep more water in California's rivers and streams to benef…
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…
California's 2022 almond harvest is expected to be down 4% from last year despite record-high bearing acreage, according to USDA. The main culprits behind the smaller crop are frost damage and…
Two generations of a California family grow blueberries for farmers markets. They talk about getting started in the 1990s, customers' favorite varieties and how they extend the season for the crop.
Federal assistance is coming for Northwest farmers whose crops were impacted by natural disasters in 2020 and 2021. The USDA will provide $6 billion in payments through the Farm Service Agency…
SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Department of Labor has fined five California farms that failed to provide H-2A agricultural guestworkers with the wages, benefits or protections required by law.
The Klamath Tribes are suing the federal government under the Endangered Species Act to halt water diversions from Upper Klamath Lake for irrigated agriculture along the Oregon-California border.
In the midst of a years-long drought, California is implementing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, creating even more concerns for the state's dairy farmers.
Northwest precipitation prompts rangeland concern.
During drought, it's common for farmers across the West to pay higher water-related rates, assessments, fees and taxes than during wet years. This is because drought is costly for water suppli…
FORT JONES, Calif. — Farmers and ranchers in the rural Scott Valley of Northern California are banding together to advocate for farms as the area faces the potential loss of 100% of its irriga…
TURNER, Ore. — Farmers at Santiam Valley Ranch, a 400-acre farm southeast of Salem, say they've benefited from enrolling a portion of it in a USDA wetland conservation program. "This land didn…
The Klamath Tribes have issued a 60-day notice of intent to sue the federal government over protections for two species of endangered sucker fish in Upper Klamath Lake.
California small-scale farmers added more varieties of vegetables to their selection of berries and cooperated with neighboring farms to direct-market food boxes during the pandemic.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — USDA will invest $31.1 million in 15 landscape restoration projects using Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds and annual appropriations. The purpose of the projects is to re…
Based on hydrologic conditions, the federal Bureau of Reclamation plans to release 50,000 acre-feet of water from Upper Klamath Lake into the Klamath Project beginning April 15. That is just 1…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has established a program under President Biden's "American Rescue Plan" which invests an initial $43 million in rural health programs across the U.S.
The high price of the herbicide glyphosate means some alternatives will be more affordable for farmers, a weed scientist says.
A California timber baron who is the nation's largest landowner has jumped into Oregon politics with big contributions to campaigns seeking to wrest control of state government from Democrats.
A California company has applied to build side-by-side solar-power complexes on nearly 1,800 acres of rangeland in northeast Yakima County, Wash.
Grazing cattle on three allotments of California’s Stanislaus National Forest doesn’t violate state pollution rules or the Clean Water Act, according to a federal appeals court.
A California farmers cooperative has complained that Argentina exports grape juice concentrate at artificially depressed prices, triggering a federal trade investigation into U.S. market impacts.
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will provide 50,000 acre-feet of water this season to Klamath Project irrigators as the region grapples with a third consecutive year of ex…
With every geographic region in California coping with severe or extreme drought, Western United Dairies has focused on resources for producers and making sure they get paid for reducing water usage.
Though drought is top-of-mind for many cattle ranchers, there’s another factor limiting forage availability in 2022: Some public rangelands were so damaged in the West’s 2020-2021 wildfires th…
One year after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation shut off water to the Klamath Project amid a devastating region-wide drought, conditions appear to be even worse heading into the 2022 irrigation season.
BOISE — Drought and low snowpacks in the West likely mean an early start to wildfire season, meteorologists at the National Interagency Fire Center predict. “Due to below-average, and in some …
CRESCENT CITY, Calif. — A dairy family's chicken-and-egg project to give their kids something to do has turned into a major operation over the past decade. Alexandre Kids Eggs has grown from a…
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Department of Water Resources has allocated almost $30 million to help repair the Friant-Kern Canal, which has lost more than 60% of its original water-carr…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A legal dispute over California’s pork production standards has landed before the U.S. Supreme Court, which will decide whether the requirements unconstitutionally inhibit i…
DIXON, Calif. — David Medrano started on the bottom rung of the agricultural ladder, but he has arrived at the top. He now operates his own family farm, growing flowers for customers in the Bay Area.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Bureau of Reclamation will provide $100 million to help fund a major dam safety project in California at the B.F. Sisk Dam, the nation's largest off-stream reservoir and…
JOHN DAY, Ore. — A judge’s decision to restore federal protections for gray wolves last month has put Grant County, Ore., at ground zero for relisting the predators under the Endangered Species Act.
BROOKINGS, Ore. — The Easter lily industry that straddles the southwestern Oregon and northwestern California border has experienced declining production over recent decades.
CENTRAL POINT, Ore. — Last week, Alexander “Alec” Levin, an Oregon State University viticulturist and assistant professor, planted a “no-touch” vineyard at a Southern Oregon research center. T…
Experts are urging Northwest farmers with poultry and other birds to boost their biosecurity measures as highly pathogenic avian influenza — known by the initials HPAI — spreads along migrator…
SACRAMENTO — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has formally invited the Sites Project Authority, responsible for building a new reservoir in California, to apply for a $2.2 billion low-…
Farmers fed up with the regulatory climate in California, Oregon and Washington have for years threatened to move away. Capital Press talks with several who have done it.
The reigning La Nina has more staying power than expected and likely will stay through the spring and into the summer, influencing U.S. temperatures and precipitation for the upcoming months, …
A federal appeals court has again rejected arguments that an experiment aimed at removing barred owls to help threatened spotted owls runs afoul of environmental laws.
BOISE — Incident meteorologists are key teammates for wildfire foresters and analysts, who come up with game plans for battling the massive blazes. An overarching goal is to let incident manag…
