Tractors and fumigants are focus of plan

In an effort to speed cleanup of the state's air pollution, the California Air Resources Board has adopted a sweeping plan that would require all farmers in the state to use cleaner engines in farm equipment and farmers in Ventura County to reduce or change their use of fumigants on strawberries and other crops.

The new plan, which was adopted by the board in September, must now be approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The plan is meant to give the state direction on how to meet its air quality goals.

Affecting farmers statewide is a proposal aimed at cleaning up emissions from non-stationary farm equipment such as tractors. The goal is to upgrade and retire older farm equipment with ones that have cleaner engines by 2014. The board is expected to consider the regulation in 2009.

But farmers say replacing these expensive pieces of equipment might not be economically feasible. Some tractors have long life spans and low usage, and replacing them too early would create economic hardship for many of them. In addition, they say once they have paid for a tractor and learn it has no resale value, it will be difficult to turn around and buy a new one to comply with the regulations.

The proposed rule is similar to others that are also in the works, including proposals that require phase-out of older diesel trucks and stationary diesel farm engines. The current plan calls for full conversion of the state's mobile farm equipment to the cleanest Tier 4 engines by 2014.

Those engines, however, are not expected to come on line until 2013 or later depending on engine size. Engines are ranked according to how old and clean they are, with Tier 0 being the oldest and dirtiest. Tier 3 engines became available this year.

"What that means is you're discouraging growers from buying a new tractor today or in the next six years because all that's available right now is Tier 3," Roger Isom of California Cotton Growers and Ginners Association said in his statement to the ARB.

Cynthia Cory, California Farm Bureau Federation director of environmental affairs, said farmers who want to do the right thing and upgrade their equipment have a real dilemma on their hands.

"It's a Catch-22 because if you're a farmer and you need to buy a tractor now, there's no Tier 4, so you're going to have to turn around in 2014 and get another tractor," she said.

There might be some flexibility for those who are buying Tier 3 engines today. In an amended version of the proposed plan, the ARB said, "we recognize that significant reductions can be achieved sooner by upgrading the dirtiest, old equipment to Tier 3. To that end we are supporting efforts to secure federal funds and other mechanisms to achieve near-term reductions that can be credited to the (state implementation plan)."

Rayne Thompson, CFBF director of international trade and plant health, said the Farm Bureau supports the incentive program included in the ARB plan.

"Incentive programs are the most effective way of getting our growers to transition some of their older equipment into newer equipment," she said in her statement to the ARB. "We recognize that without this incentive program, this plan will have a great impact on smaller growers having to make that transition."

Cory said farmers who are thinking about replacing their farm equipment today should think about buying the newest engines possible.

But that new Tier 3 equipment will be expensive, said Jeff Huckins, chief executive officer of Woodland Tractor and Equipment, noting that a typical 200-horsepower tractor used for rice, corn, wheat or cotton farming could run $130,000 to more than $150,000, while larger tractors are going for $170,000 to $200,000.

At those prices, he said it would be unrealistic for air regulators to expect farmers to retire equipment that doesn't get used very often.

Cory said while the state proposal is still sketchy, "it's important that we start talking about it."

"I want our farmers to be aware that change is coming and we need to do as much investigation as we can," she said.

Also included in ARB's state plan but specific to Ventura County are new rules that require farmers in that region to reduce air pollution caused by fumigants such as methyl bromide, which is used to sterilize the soil before planting. But rather than phasing out fumigants completely on Jan. 1 as previously proposed, the current plan allows farmers to borrow pollution credits—1.3 tons per day—from other sources as they reduce pesticide emissions to zero by 2012.

"The big issue is without agriculture being able to borrow the 1.3 tons per day, the only way farmers can meet the air quality regulations is by taking acres out of production," said Thompson.

According to estimates from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, some 5,800 to 7,500 acres of Ventura County's 14,000 acres of farmland will go out of production when the plan is fully implemented in 2012.

Four of the county's top five crops, including strawberries, nursery stock, celery and tomatoes, rely on pre-plant soil fumigation to clean the soil of disease before they are planted. Strawberries are the county's highest-value crop, accounting for $366 million in 2006 and more than 75 percent of summer-fumigated acres.

Thompson noted that 95 percent of Ventura County strawberry growers already use low-emission methods to apply fumigants. The methods include drip technology and covering the soil with a semi-permeable tarp to hold the fumigant in the soil, where a majority of the fumigant biodegrades.

The ARB has agreed to revisit the issue in 2010 to assess impacts of the plan on agricultural production, lost acreage, air quality and emission reductions. It will also review what new technologies are available for use and decide if amendments to the plan are appropriate.

Rex Laird, executive director of Ventura County Farm Bureau, said the 2012 extension allows farmers to explore alternative cultural practices that could make a significant difference in cutting emissions without negatively impacting their agricultural production. Some of these alternatives might include crop rotation and altering timing of fumigation, he said.

"It's going to take a cooperative effort between the growers, the property owners and the pest control people to make that happen," Laird said. "And that's no small mountain to climb, but I think it's better than just turning over our destiny to people that have a specific agenda on one side. This is simply a methodology to go after the industry and the use of chemicals. I don't know if it's really about air at all. If we can adjust our practices and take that argument away, then we've resolved the issue."

(Ching Lee is a reporter for Ag Alert. She may be contacted at clee@cfbf.com.)