By Jennifer E-Commerce • New Developments 0 Comments

MADERA COUNTY HOUSING BOOM COULD SPUR AT LEAST ONE NEW CITY

By Jennifer Hi-Tech 0 Comments

Central Valley Angels invest in cloud software

The Central Valley Angel Group has added Worksana, a unit of Morro Bay-based Vendorver Inc., to its investment portfolio. Worksana is a cloud-based time system and mobile timetracking application designed for California labor law compliance. The software enables employers to track employees and manage resources more efficiently, the company saus. “We believe in the concept and are convinced this is the management team to carry it forward, ” says Fund Chairman Emory Wishon. Worksana CEO and Co-Founder David Hergenroeder says the investment from Central Valley Angel Group “will help our company prosper in growth while in turn we help other businesses maintain efficiency and compliance with our solution.

https://files.constantcontact.com/2cb20f61601/ca0229df-88ac-4ecd-99a7-ddbb9c2859b9.pdf

By Jennifer Economy • Food Processing • New Location 0 Comments

FOSTER FARMS ACQUIRES 19 NEW RANCHES; ORGANIC, FREE-RANGE EXPANSION PLANNED

It’s a done deal after nearly a year of wrangling over the assets of Zacky Farms. Livingston-based Foster Farms has completed the acquisition of 19 poultry ranches in the Central Valley, purchased as part of Zacky Farms’ bankruptcy settlement proceedings, says the company in a statement released this month. The new ranches join hundreds of Foster Farms-owned facilities in California and more than 39 family-owned farms in Oregon and Washington. The new Central Valley ranches will allow Foster Farms to meet growing demand for the company’s California-grown, antibiotic-free, Certified Organic and free-range fresh chicken and turkey products. The Central California ranch acquisitions come amid Foster Farms’ recent expansion in Merced County and the development of a new organic feed mill. Foster Farms remains family-owned and celebrates its 80th anniversary this year.

https://thebusinessjournal.com/foster-farms-acquires-19-new-ranches-organic-free-range-expansion-planned/?utm_source=Daily+Update&utm_campaign=79167a39c9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_10_22_08_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fb834d017b-79167a39c9-78934409&mc_cid=79167a39c9&mc_eid=a126ded657

By Jennifer Commercial • Economy • New Developments 0 Comments

2 years since its reopening, Fulton Street continues to develop

As thousands celebrated year two of Fulton Street’s reopening, Valley native Reza Assemi took Action News inside one of his latest projects. “I bought this with a partner Jamin Brazil,” Assemi is one of the developers behind buildings like Iron Bird Lofts, Broadway Studios and the old theater three. But now he is looking to turn this 1918 building on Inyo and Fulton into something new. “We are looking to do commercial space downstairs so hopefully taprooms, entertainment-driven businesses and upstairs tech space,” he said. Assemi tells Action News for over two decades he has envisioned changing the scope of this area.

https://abc30.com/2-years-since-its-reopening-fulton-street-continues-to-develop/5632356/

By Jennifer Economy • Workforce 0 Comments

Merced County employment hits highest point in decades. Which jobs saw the most gains?

More people were working last month in Merced County than at any time in almost 30 years, and the number of people out of work was at its second-lowest point in September – a combination that drove the county’s unemployment rate to its lowest point in decades. Estimates released Friday by the state Employment Development Department indicated Merced County’s unemployment rate was 5.5%. That’s the lowest it’s been since current tracking methods began in 1990. The previous low-water mark was a year ago, when the county’s unemployment rate was estimated at 6.0%. Across the central San Joaquin Valley, “August and September are historically the months reflecting the lowest rates each year because of seasonal swings in agricultural employment and because schools have teachers and staff returning to work after the summer,” said Steven Gutierrez, an EDD labor market consultant.

https://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/local/article236418983.html

By Jennifer Economy 0 Comments

Economic event in Merced turned spotlight on San Joaquin Valley’s land, people and opportunity

The University of California, Merced was a fitting venue for the Regions Rise Together meeting in the north San Joaquin Valley last week. UC Merced, the youngest of the UC campuses, is the first American research university of the 21st century. Its research agenda on issues of agriculture, water supply and sustainability, forest resiliency and ag tech mirrors the future of the region and the state. It also is a university of the future in terms of whom it is educating, as interim Chancellor Nathan Brostrom told the gathering of leaders from the region, with first generation college students making up 70% of the 8,200 undergraduate student population.

https://cafwd.org/reporting/entry-new/economic-event-in-merced-turned-spotlight-on-san-joaquin-valleys-land-peopl

By Jennifer Economy • Food Processing • Manufacturing • Top Stories 0 Comments

WE’RE BACK, BABY! FRESNO TOP AG COUNTY ONCE AGAIN

For the first time since 2013, Fresno County is the top agricultural county in California and the U.S. This news comes with the Tuesday morning release of the 2018 Tulare County crop and livestock report, which shows sales of agricultural goods produced there last year totaled more than $7.21 billion, a 2.5% increase from ag sales in 2017. In 2017, Kern County was the top ag county based on sales, followed by Tulare and Fresno counties, respectively. But based on this latest crop report and those previously released, Fresno County shot up in the rankings to the top spot, with 2018 gross ag sales totaling more than $7.88 billion, followed by more than $7.46 billion in sales by Kern County farmers, ranchers, apiarists and others.

https://thebusinessjournal.com/were-back-baby-fresno-top-ag-county-once-again/?utm_source=Daily+Update&utm_campaign=bfd5b60568-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_10_08_08_31&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fb834d017b-bfd5b60568-78934409&mc_cid=bfd5b60568&mc_eid=a126ded657

By Jennifer Economy • Education • Health/Medical • New Location 0 Comments

What’s needed for Valley medical school? About $25 million, feeder programs and more

The San Joaquin Valley Coalition for Medical Education held a meeting Wednesday October 16, 2019 at the Doctor Medical Center conference center in Modesto, Calif. to discuss a medical school serving the Valley. KEN CARLSON KCARLSON@MODBEE.COM A coalition for medical education convened in Modesto on Wednesday and discussed what it will take to establish a University of California medical school serving the San Joaquin Valley. Once proposed as a medical school at UC Merced, the plan would commit UC facilities in Merced and Fresno for a medical school to address a severe physician shortage in the Valley.
By Jennifer Economy • Energy 0 Comments

How a massive Amazon wind farm promises to change a tiny town in rural America

Buried in the mountains of southern California lies a field of white. It’s not your typical farm: It produces renewable energy. The Tehachapi Pass is home to one of the largest wind farms in the world. Now a huge tech company is bringing more turbines to the area, and it is going to have an impact on a nearby community. In April, Amazon announced three new wind farm projects — two overseas, and one in the Tehachapi (teh-HATCH-ah-pee) Mountains, located in southern California. The farms will help contribute to Amazon’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 and 100% renewables by 2030. The mountain range is a hub for the wind industry, with around 4,731 turbines that produce about 3,200 megawatts of electricity along the mountain range, according to the Center for Land Use Interpretation, with private companies flocking to the area because of the high wind speeds. Farther north is the Altamont Pass wind farm, which helps power another tech giant: Alphabet’s Google.
By Jennifer Economy • Food Processing 0 Comments

Pistachio production, revenues on the rise in Kern

If pistachios were a football team — and sometimes it does seem like they compete against almonds — they would be climbing the tree-nut power rankings. Due partly to an exceptional 2018 harvest, pistachios surged two places last year to seize the No. 3 spot in Kern’s ranking of top-grossing crops. They came in just behind almonds and table grapes, the county’s sales leader. The recent growth is phenomenal for a nut that has been cultivated in the Central Valley since the late 1960s. Kern growers’ pistachio sales jumped 91 percent between 2017 and 2018 to reach $1.06 billion, which according to county reports is more than five times their total a decade earlier.

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/pistachio-production-revenues-on-the-rise-in-kern/article_e998dfa6-ec6a-11e9-9786-bf4461849821.html