Kelly Silvera

2 weeks ago | marketplace.org | Meghan McCarty Carino |Kelly Silvera |Daisy Palacios |Daniel Shin

This week, we hit the road to check out California’s Central Valley, where the future of agricultural innovation is taking shape. We visited a farm that’s piloting next-gen tools and a university research center that’s helping develop that tech. Today, we’re at a graduation.

2 weeks ago | marketplace.org | Meghan McCarty Carino |Kelly Silvera |Daisy Palacios |Daniel Shin

This week, we’re heading to California’s Central Valley to see how technology is transforming this agricultural region. Yesterday, we visited a farm to see the latest gadgets in action. And today, we’re going straight to the innovation source: the University of California, Merced. “Thanks for making the trip up,” Leigh Bernacchi greets us as we walk through the back of a science building. She’s the executive director of the Valley Institute for Sustainability, Technology and Agriculture.

2 weeks ago | marketplace.org | Meghan McCarty Carino |Kelly Silvera |Daisy Palacios |Daniel Shin

California is known for being home to Hollywood and, of course the center of global tech, Silicon Valley. But the Golden State also has millions of acres of farmland, and we’re exploring how technology is changing that landscape in a series this week about “Agtech Valley.”The Central Valley region is known as the “food basket of America” because it produces the majority of fruits, nuts and vegetables in the country.

3 weeks ago | marketplace.org | David Brancaccio |Kelly Silvera |Meredith Garretson Morbey |Alex Schroeder

May 14, 2025Growing insurance premiums — and problemsCalifornia regulators are allowing State Farm to charge more following this year's LA wildfires. Consumers in other states are also grappling with higher premiums. Mario Tama/Getty Images

3 weeks ago | marketplace.org | Meghan McCarty Carino |Kelly Silvera |Daisy Palacios |Daniel Shin

May 14, 2025Alex Hanna and Emily Bender, coauthors of "The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want," say current AI systems aren't democratizing creativity and labor, but rather cheapening it, while also preventing consumers from owning the data collected on them. The excitement around AI has gotten a bit frothy. Those two magic letters are everywhere, promising everything.