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Congressman Jimmy Panetta represents California's Central Coast, the diverse region covering all of Monterey and San Benito Counties and southern portions of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties. California's Central Coast is the epicenter of specialty crop and organic agriculture producing over $5 billion annually.

OPN recently sat down to discuss the importance of organic horticulture with Congressman Panetta.

SALINAS, Calif. - More than half a million dollars in grants will go toward improving homelessness and other issues on the Central Coast.

Today Congressman Jimmy Panetta announced Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties received $511,779 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) for local social service agencies to offer food, housing and utility assistance for those in need. Specifically, Monterey County received $298,982, San Benito County received $35,317, and Santa Cruz County received $177,480.

Salinas >> A Federal Emergency Management Agency grant provided $298,982 to Monterey County for local service agencies to offer food, housing and utility assistance for those in need, Rep. Jimmy Panetta announced Tuesday.

Tariffs and trade are hot topics in Washington these days, and two Congressmen have come together to propose a way to eliminate unnecessary trade barriers. Panama City Republican Neal Dunn and California Democrat Jimmy Panetta are tackling the trade barriers that are hurting American exports and hindering innovation and advancement in agricultural technologies.

U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., are once again pairing up on a proposal, this time to lower trade barriers on American agriculture.

Towards the end of last week, Dunn and Panetta unveiled the "Growing American Food Exports Act" which updates the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to ensure the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service program is modernized to include more opportunities to export engineered agriculture

The news also prompted concern on Capitol Hill. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, a Democrat from California and member of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that “the ban, which implements the same policy that was blocked by several courts, runs counter to the American values that our troops are fighting to protect.”