Trees & Vines A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ® CALIFORNIA ®
A crew near Lodi separates wood from wires and metal stakes after taking out a diseased vineyard. Some growers say burning discarded vines is the best option to prevent the spread of crop pests.
Growers seek burning option for diseased vineyards By Vicky Boyd
the agricultural material closed. As a result, the California Air Resources Board concurred with the air district’s request to extend the deadline to end burning several times. The final deadline is Jan. 1, 2025, and air district officials say they are adamant they will not extend it again. To help with the transition, the regional air district secured state funding to provide cost-share to growers. Most recently, the air district received $187 million, of which $35 million went to help custom operators purchase new chipping and grinding equipment. Some crops, such as tree nuts, were on a faster phase-down schedule. Many nut pro- ducers now have companies grind or chip orchards and incorporate the material into the soil—a system known as whole-orchard recycling. Because of unique production practices, grape vineyards are on the tail end of the phase out. Depending on the type of trellising, vineyards may not be suited to recycling because cordons—side branch-like extensions from the main trunk—envelope support wires as they grow. If those vineyards were pushed, piled and chipped, metal wire could damage equipment or become shrapnel, posing safety threats to nearby workers. In response, some growers have hired crews to painstakingly separate the wires and metal stakes from the vines, but the process is expensive. See BURNING, Page 8
San Joaquin Valley grape growers who thought they could use an agricultural burn phase-out rule exemption to ignite piles of diseased vines have encountered yet another obstacle. They also have to obtain an increasingly rare burn permit from the regional San Joaquin Valley air district. The frustration experienced by some growers became apparent at a recent agricul- tural burning outreach meeting hosted by the Lodi Winegrape Commission with help from the California Association of Winegrape Growers and the Lodi District Grape Growers Association. “When you have a diseased vineyard, it has to be taken care of,” said Randy Kazarian, a Lodi winegrape grower who had pushed an old vineyard and was waiting to burn it. “This is really a mess. I have vines in cold storage waiting for planting, and you can’t store vines for years. We have to make our plans a year in advance.” The Lodi Winegrape Commission decided to hold the meeting to help reduce confu- sion that exists on all sides, from growers to regulators, surrounding the burn regulations. Under Senate Bill 705, signed into law in 2003, open-air burning of orchards and vineyard material within the eight-county San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District was to be phased out by 2010, provided alternate, less-polluting disposal methods were available. Technological advances lagged, and several biomass plants that were expected to accept
October 4, 2023 Ag Alert 7
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