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Where the Water Grows
Folsom's strategy for growth, like that of many cities, reroutes conserved water — but residents say that plan caught them off guard
Effective water conservation throughout the City of Folsom made way for the largest expansion of the city in decades. While not all residents agree with Folsom’s strategy, it is being implemented in growing cities around the state as an effective tool to meet housing demand.
![photo: courtesy](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/feb.blog_.backforward.water_.ellenhanak.jpg?1577874530)
Back and Forward: Ellen Hanak
Director of the Water Policy Center on California water management
Ellen Hanak, director of the Water Policy Center at the Public Policy Institute of California offers her insight into California water management.
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Seeds of Innovation
Important work happening in the Capital Region is transforming the future of vegetables
Eight of the world’s 10 largest vegetable seed companies are located near UC Davis, a world leader in plant science and agricultural research. The Capital Region is home to a vast ecosystem at the forefront of advancing food production — here’s how all the pieces come together.
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Infighting in Washington on Track to Harm California’s Wine Industry
The U.S. is the largest wine market in the world, and California produces 65 percent of all the wine consumed domestically. Our industry generates $57.6 billion in annual state level economic activity, which in turn employs 325,000 Californians. It is vital that California wine remain competitive in a global market.
![Stockton-based PUENTES’ Children’s Urban Farm Classroom teaches students about nutrition and how to grow food.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/crc_feat_health_kenjames.jpg?1577874530)
Breaking the Cycle
Nonprofit urban farms want to end food insecurity
During the school year, 13 students from Washington Elementary School in Stockton, meet once a week at the 5.7-acre Boggs Tract Community Farm, where the children grow seedlings into vegetables in one small patch of land.
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The Capital Region’s Food Systems 101
How nonprofits improve local health, the environment and economy
In America’s farm-to-fork capital, it’s easy to place attention on the fork side of the story – the amazing chefs and restaurants feeding us. Yet, there’s a complicated web of grassroots services, part of a larger food system, which covers everything including health, environment, economy, social justice and more. Nonprofits provide core services that keep this delicate system moving toward a better community. Comstock’s explores this side of Sacramento’s local food network.
![Carbon pollution from fires is harmful long after the blazes are out. Image via Santa Barbara County Fire Department](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/carbon_pollution_from_fires_is_harmful_long_after_the_blazes_are_out._image_via_santa_barbara_county_fire_department..jpg?1577874530)
In California’s Wildfires, a Looming Threat to Climate Goals
Beyond the devastation and personal tragedy of the fires that have ravaged California in recent months, another disaster looms: an alarming uptick in unhealthy air and the sudden release of the carbon dioxide that drives climate change.
![Green Tech solar panel installation (photos courtesy Green Tech)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/green_tech_roof_pic.jpg?1577874530)
Green Tech: Education Spurs Local Economy
Nonprofit Prepares Local Youth for Jobs in the Green Sector
Right in California’s agricultural heart, innovative nonprofit Green Tech Education and Employment is growing something other than crops – it’s cultivating Sacramento’s next generation of skilled workers.
![Courtney McDonald is the owner and farmer of Four Tines Farm in Auburn. (Photo courtesy Erik Bergen)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1117_blog_womenfarmers1.jpg?1577874530)
Meet Three of the Capital Region’s Women Farmers
While California boasts some of the highest numbers of female farmers in the U.S., at 33 percent of the state’s total farmers, that’s still only one in seven farmers. Yet, the women who have chosen this profession don’t see themselves as statistics. They see themselves as hard workers feeding their communities.
Comstock’s recently spoke with three women about the joys and challenges of running small farms.
![Canon in East Sacramento uses seasonal and local ingredients, soon sourcing from the garden right outside its front door. (Photo by Jennifer Berry)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1117_blog_food_zeroprint.jpeg?1577874530)
Zero is the Hero in Restaurant Waste
Sacramento chefs pair good business with environmental stewardship
Here in America’s farm-to-fork capital, consumers tend to understand this connection through our region’s rich agricultural heritage and California’s role as the nation’s largest agricultural producer. Local chefs like Brad Cecchi showcase seasonal produce and proteins from local farmers and ranchers who respect the land they farm and animals they raise, through practices intended to keep the land productive for generations to come.