Kurt Spataro has shopped at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-Op in three different locations since the 1980s, but he sees “a lot of new things to discover” at the co-op’s bigger and brighter new home at 2820 R St.

Though largely hidden from the consumer’s eye, food waste is hardly insignificant. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we waste between 30 to 40 percent of food each year — and with it water, money and the chance to feed food-insecure people.

California’s landmark greenhouse-gas reduction law, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, turned 10 last month. Like most precocious 10-year-olds, AB 32 (as it’s better known) is very much a work in progress.

Out on County Road 26, just west of Interstate 505 in Yolo County, Park Winters sits holding court against a backdrop of the Vaca Mountains as it has since George Washington Scott built the mansion in 1865. Now under the ownership of partners John Martin and Rafael Galiano, this 151-year-old 10-acre property is thriving with new life. 

We often only extend care and concern to the domesticated animals that share our homes with us — but Mittens and Rover aren’t the ones in danger here.

As Californians continue to opt for drought-tolerant landscaping, thus requiring less lawn and more plants outside a home, major home improvement chains are committing to selling bee-friendly plants that do not contain neonicotinoids, a widely-used insecticide.

Since 2007, the nonprofit Capital Region Family Business Center has worked to help family-run businesses solve some of the unique challenges facing their companies. The organization recently took another step toward that goal by hiring Stella Premo as its first full-time, paid executive director. We talked to her about the ups and downs of running a family business.

When Sacramento declared itself the Farm-to-Fork Capital of America in 2012, it opened a floodgate of introspective conversations across the region. How do we truly lead in agriculture?

Annie and Jeff Main started farming after college, inspired by the back-to-land movement of the 1970s. They farmed on rented land for 17 years and then bought their own 20 acres in Capay Valley, in Yolo County.

Sacramento is full of people growing, preparing and eating food, but what about the people trying to change the rules — at the local and state level — to make those steps along the food chain better, fairer and greener?