Farm Bureau At Work

California Farm Bureau reminds members that all rodenticides are under review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Late last year, the agency released a proposed interim decision. If approved, it could have substantial impacts on how rodenticides are used. For example, should the decision hold, rodenticides would be considered restricted-use materials and applicators would need to be certified to apply the products in agricultural settings.

Aboveground applications would be eliminated in areas planted with crops, rangeland, pasture and fallowed land. Such a change would leave only bait stations for ground squirrels and voles. This would eliminate first-generation anticoagulant rodenticide applications for pocket gophers for much of the year and for some crops, such as citrus and alfalfa, in certain areas of the state.

Carcass searches would be required every one to two days for at least two weeks after the first application. Other changes affect personal protective equipment. An APF-10 respirator would need to be fit-tested for applicators of these products.

Finally, the interim decision would also require endangered species restrictions that limit applications to bait stations within these species’ ranges.

American Farm Bureau Federation is due to make comments to address proposed mitigation measures outlined above. Farm Bureau and its federal staff will be following the issue closely.

The closing date for comments on the proposed changes is Feb. 13.

Senate Bill 224 was introduced Jan. 19 by state Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Bakersfield. The bill would prohibit foreign governments from purchasing, leasing or holding any interest in agricultural land in California. It would also exempt foreign governments from that restriction until January 2024.

Existing federal law requires any foreign person, including a foreign governmentthat acquires agricultural land, to submit a report to the U.S. secretary of agriculture. Every six months, the secretary must send each state department of agriculture a copy of the reports, which include the citizenship or country of the people or governments that acquired the land.

The bill would require the California Department of Food and Agriculture to compile annual reports detailing the amount of agricultural land under foreign ownership.

Farm Bureau expects significant discussion and will be actively engaged on the issue.

California Farm Bureau continues to work with the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, on its zero-emission forklift rulemaking. As Farm Bureau members may remember, this rule is intended to help California achieve emission-reduction goals first outlined in 2016.

CARB hosted a workshop on Tuesday, discussing the rulemaking. The workshop focused on key updates to the draft proposal made since a February 2022 workgroup meeting and since staff shared updated regulatory concepts in July 2022. In addition, CARB staff provided an overview of the agency’s process for preparing the environmental analysis.

State staff accepted public input at the workshop on the appropriate scope and content of the analysis, methods of compliance, potential significant adverse impacts associated with compliance, potential feasible mitigation measures and alternatives to the proposal that could reduce or eliminate significant adverse impacts.

A draft of the analysis will be released later this year for public review and comment. To participate in the process, register on the CARB website.