San Mateo Farm Hub Mobilizes With $2.5M Grant as King Tides Peak

On the San Mateo County coast, local growers and regional hunger-relief organizations have launched a contract-farming hub backed by a $2.5 million Gilead Sciences grant ahead of the holiday season, while meteorologists at the National Weather Service's Bay Area forecast office in Monterey warned that super El Niño-driven king tides are peaking 1.9 feet above normal along Northern California shorelines through Saturday, according to reports on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026 from NBC Bay Area and KCBS Radio / The Associated Press.

Brisa Ranch, Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, and Gilead Sciences Back Farm-to-Food-Bank Hub

According to NBC Bay Area reporter Robert Handa, Brisa Ranch on the San Mateo County coast is leading a regional food hub that connects local farms directly with Bay Area food banks through advance planting commitments.

Brisa Ranch co-owner Cole Mazariegos-Anastassiou explained that the model gives coastal farmers guaranteed advance orders specifying the exact number of pallets and delivery dates for crops such as poblano peppers and cilantro, allowing growers to plan their fields with certainty. Second Harvest of Silicon Valley Chief Executive Officer Leslie Bacho noted that staples such as bok choy and cilantro are central to the diverse households served across Silicon Valley and the Bay Area but are difficult to source reliably on the open market without collective advance purchasing.

The initiative aligns with statewide farm-to-food-bank programs coordinated by the California Association of Food Banks—a network of 44 food banks working with more than 6,000 community-based organizations—whose CEO, Stacia Levenfeld, emphasized that the partnership invests simultaneously in hunger relief and California agriculture. To help offset recent public funding reductions, biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences donated $2.5 million this year, with Gilead Foundation President Jane Stafford citing food security as foundational to community health.

Northern California King Tides Peak 1.9 Feet Above Normal Through Saturday

Along the Pacific shoreline, Roger Gass, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Bay Area forecast office in Monterey, reported that Northern California high tides are peaking 1.9 feet (approximately half a meter) above normal this week, producing minor coastal flooding in low-lying shorelines and tidal waterways through Saturday within 1.5 hours (1 1/2 hours) before and after peak high tide.

According to The Associated Press, this week's full-moon gravitational alignment has been amplified along the California coast by the ongoing super El Niño—which warms ocean water and expands seawater volume—together with Kelvin waves, pulses of warm water that elevate sea levels. In Southern California, record high tides were recorded in Santa Barbara, San Pedro, San Diego, and La Jolla, while seawater closed a flooded stretch of the 4-lane Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach (where 38-year-old Stacey Frederick, a 5-year resident, photographed people walking in knee-deep water and paddleboarding) and overtopped 3 layers of sandbags at the garage and studio apartment of 75-year-old Sunset Beach resident Lorraine Friedman (flooding her home for two consecutive days after flooding only once before, 20 years ago, during her nearly 3 decades there). On the East Coast, Miami National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Fisher reported street flooding across Florida and the Carolinas, with Virginia Key recording its highest king tide and 3rd-highest water level in 3 decades of recordkeeping.