Coronavirus hits Bay Area’s artisan cheese industry hard

San Francisco Chronicle

April 14, 2020

Bay Area artisan cheese makers are making tough decisions right now. Some are laying off staff. Others are switching up the cheeses they produce, hoping to wait out the coronavirus in the aging room. That’s because just about all of California’s boutique cheese makers have seen their sales drop since state and local shelter-in-place orders…

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North America’s most underrated road trip

New Zealand Herald

February 11, 2020

While much of the Bay Area has been developed for business and residence, Marin County has remained relatively undeveloped because of the land protections of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT), founded by rancher Ellen Straus and biologist Phyllis Faber in 1980.

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County parks will ask voters to extend Measure A sales tax

Point Reyes Light

January 29, 2020

At a Marin Conservation League subcommittee meeting last week, Executive Director Jamison Watts said a campaign would cost about $225,000, and the land trust is prepared to pay half of that. “It is not cheap, but we feel very strongly about it. We’re all in on this,” he said.

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Marin County Scales Back Novato Greenbelt Deal

Marin Independent Journal

January 19, 2020

Jamison Watts, executive director of MALT, said, “That is a beautiful property. It has high natural resource value as well as agricultural values. It has active lessees on the property right now. I congratulate the county on the acquisition.”

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Marin trust gets $1.1M to preserve ranch near Novato

Marin Independent Journal

January 5, 2020

The Marin Agricultural Land Trust has been awarded a nearly $1.1 million grant from the California Strategic Growth Council to help secure a new agricultural easement outside Novato. The funds are intended for a 299-acre ranch about 3 miles southwest of Petaluma, according a project summary published by the council. The acquisition would add to…

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Marin Sun Farms ends slaughter for outside farms

Point Reyes Light

December 18, 2019

“I think we, and the producers in the region, were hoping for a different outcome,” said Jamison Watts, the executive director of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust. “If we want to support a thriving agriculture community that is environmentally sustainable and economically viable, then clean, local slaughter facilities are essential.”

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