Agriculture

The value of all crops and livestock exceeded $8 billion – the highest ever recorded in Fresno County. But Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen says that number doesn’t paint the whole picture.

The Valley air district has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds to help farmers upgrade tractors to newer, cleaner burning machines. But despite hefty grants, the programs are inaccessible to many small farmers, and ag equipment still contributes to the Valley’s smog problem.

After a federal judge ruled that the EPA wrongly approved of a flawed plan to reduce San Joaquin Valley air pollution, clean air advocates hope the federal agency will step in to strengthen regulations of polluting industries.

A California senator set out to ban agricultural burning in the San Joaquin Valley nearly 20 years ago. A messy political fight left a legal loophole that allowed air regulators to postpone the deadline.

Even with $220 million in financial incentives, growers are wondering how they’ll afford whole orchard recycling in the long term–especially small farmers, who have fewer resources to begin with.

In their new plan to ban agricultural burning, air regulators are using outreach and financial incentives to convince growers to adopt an alternative known as whole orchard recycling.

The San Joaquin Valley air district committed to ending open agricultural burning by 2025, but nearly two decades of postponing the ban have left clean air advocates dubious that local air regulators will follow through.

California is acting later than many states in regulating neonicotinoids, but its rules would be among the nation’s most extensive. They would change how growers kill pests on nuts, citrus and other fruit crops.

Growers are concerned that the order could slow or restrict access to groundwater.

Governor Gavin Newsom's recent executive order may make drilling new wells for agricultural uses more difficult. Local groundwater sustainability agencies would have to determine if future drillings will affect sustainability goals.