Agricultural waste burning could face new restrictions
of acreage may be burned. Residual rice stubble would no longer be allowed to burn. Weeds and vegetativematerials on rice field levees and banks could still be burned, as no viable alternative exists. The report notes that, through 2014, the district’s restrictions reduced open burning of waste by 80%. The recent drought led to hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland being taken out of production; at the same time, many biomass plants shut down because of shifting markets. The report said these conditions, along with the Sustainable
GroundwaterManagement Act,may lead tomore acreage being fallowed, affecting the district’s efforts to reduce burning. Thedistrict is legallyobligated to review burning regulations and make recom- mendations to the state air board every five years. The full report may be read at www.valleyair.org/BurnPrograms/ o p e n - b u r n - r e p o r t - p r o g r e s s / documents/2020-ag-burning-staff- report/2020-DRAFT-Ag-Burn-Report.pdf. (Kevin Hecteman i s an ass i stant editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at khecteman@cfbf.com.)
ByKevinHecteman The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is seeking to further tighten rules concerning when farmers may burn agricultural waste and under what conditions. The district covers the eight counties comprising the San Joaquin Valley—San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern. I n i t s r e po r t , r e l e a s e d b e f o r e Thanksgiving, the air district said it will seek to further reduce the amount of burning permitted, given the emer- gence of newmethods and technologies for disposing of material from removed orchards and vineyards. Open burns for citrus-orchard re- movals larger than 15 acres would be phased out. Starting Jan. 1, 2021, open burns at operations with more than 500 acres of trees at all sites would be banned; this would decrease to 200 acres the following year. Burn permits for removals of between 15 and 40 acres would be considered case by case, with the higher number dropping to 30 acres in 2022. By 2023, the ban would extend to all orchard removals except those smaller than 15 acres, in line with an exemption for smaller removals at a single location. The district’s report says availability of contractors for small orchards is an issue, as fixed costsmaymake the removal eco- nomically unfeasible. The district noted in its report that no economically feasible alternative to open burning for small removals exists without incentives andwider availability of contractors. The district would l ike to out law burnings for apple, pear and quince orchard removals, but said it is hold- ing off because of fire blight, which is contagious. A burn ban for vineyard removals would be postponed through 2021, owing to a lack of alternatives. Along with this, the district seeks to launch a Vineyard Remova l Al t ernat i ves Partnership with the California Air Resources Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture and grape growers, to come upwith alternatives. Among alternatives to be explored are soil incorporation; a pilot project in the district covering 46,500 tons of vineyard removal mate- rial has been shown to be successful, according to the report. The report also recommends seeking dedicated funding from the California Department of Food and Agriculture Healthy Soils Program for whole-or- chard recycling and other feasible al- ternatives. Federal funding fromUSDA also would be sought. The district also advocates state incentives to develop bioenergy-conversion projects, and a state plan for existing biomass plants that have reduced capacity even while serving as a vital destination for agri- cultural waste.
At present, all burning of field crops is disallowed, except for small amounts of rice for disease control; most prunings and orchard removals have also been added to the burn-ban list. Air district staff now recommends pro- hibiting openburning of 75%of rice stub- ble per year of the total acreage farmed in the San Joaquin Valley. At present, 70%
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December 2, 2020 Ag Alert 5
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