Terry Garrett
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The End Bit
A Crisis Hits Home Sonoma County’s affordable housing crisis won’t end until we stop seeing homes as strictly investments Oscar Wilde once said, “A cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Wilde’s famous quote is typically referenced when the intrinsic value of life has been stripped away from an object, leaving…
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The End Bit
In turbulent times, local cannabis farmers face extinction: Part 1. Two years ago, Sonoma County had a thriving cannabis cultivation community. The number of actual growers is hard to estimate due to a desire for secrecy, but industry experts estimated it at between 5,000 to 10,000 growers. That seemed like a broad range, so I…
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High Tech vs. High Touch
High Tech vs. High Touch Amazon Go, a technology-driven retail grocery experience, announced recently it was opening to the public after a few rounds of beta testing with Amazon employees. Here’s the skinny on how Amazon Go works: You enter a convenience-sized store (1,800 square-feet versus Whole Food’s 20,000 square-feet) using your Amazon Go app…
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Waste not, want not
Preserve Farm Kitchens makes a specialty brand by diverting local produce from the compost bin. Most Americans are wasteful. Not because we’re mean, but because we’re so accustomed to abundance that we don’t even think about it. Take food waste: About 40 percent of all the food grown in the United States is wasted before—and…
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The End Bit
The 43% Solution Oliver’s Market president Steve Maass gives employees a stake in company. Over the last few years, Steve Maass, founder and president of Oliver’s Market, started thinking about how he might want to retire in the near future. How could he do that, he asked himself, while still continuing the legacy of Sonoma…
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SPONSORED: Oliver’s Markets creates an Employee Stock Ownership Plan
Over the last few years, Steve Maass, founder and president of Oliver’s Market, started thinking about how he might want to retire in the near future. How could he do that, he asked himself, while still continuing the legacy of Sonoma County’s most successful independent grocery store chain? Most owners seek out the highest bid…
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The End Bit
No Dinner Out. Santa Rosa renters collectively spend approximately $432 million a year on rent. Thousands of these people are considered “rent-burdened.” What does that mean? If you pay 30 percent or more of your disposable income on rent, you are financially burdened. Here’s the breakdown: There are 65,600 total Santa Rosa households 29,400 households rent 16,500 (more than half…
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The End Bit
A Farmland Mystery. Why is Sonoma County agricultural land so expensive? I’ve almost accepted that asking this question is like asking, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”. But here’s the thing: If we want to have affordable housing and grow our own food, the high price of land is a problem for Sonoma County.…
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The End Bit
Legal Cannabis Farming Could Lead to Unique Farmpreneur Mashups. As Sonoma County regulators and policy makers work to figure out where and how to permit cannabis cultivation, a prime opportunity has arisen to examine the potential for alliances between existing fruit and vegetable farmers and cannabis growers. Vegetable farming is a notoriously difficult business. Cannabis…
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The End Bit
Sonoma County doesn’t produce much in the way of vegetables. In 2015, roughly 512 acres of vegetable production yielded $12 million. Not much, given that yearly we consume several hundred million dollars’ worth of the stuff. So, what gives? Are there farmers who want to grow more but can’t find buyers willing to pay the…