Almond Industry Headline Environmental News May 31, 2006

   Air Quality

• State to Target Pesticide Pollution. Officials are seeking the reformulation of hundreds of products and plan stricter rules on soil fumigants to cut smog-causing emissions. - - State officials are mounting a major initiative to clean up California's smoggy farm regions with new regulations and policies that will target hundreds of pesticides. The Department of Pesticide Regulation - long criticized for failing to act as air quality deteriorated in the San Joaquin Valley - has developed a strategy to eliminate tons of smog-forming gases that waft daily from fields treated with fumigants and other agricultural chemicals. The agency has asked manufacturers to begin reformulating more than 700 insecticides, herbicides and other pest-killing chemicals, and it plans to impose stricter rules next year on the use of soil fumigants, which are highly polluting gases that by weight account for about one-quarter of all pesticide applied on California crops. The state initiative would establish the only air pollution standards for pesticides in the nation. The aim is to begin cleaning up emissions soon, reducing air pollution from pesticides at least 20% by 2008. <more> May 30, 2006 LA Times
   

• DPR announces air quality initiative, pledges to meet goals -- The California Department of Pesticide Regulation today launched a comprehensive pesticide initiative to improve air quality statewide. The initiative -- which targets air toxins and smog-producing chemicals from pesticide emissions -- will achieve state air quality goals by 2008 and set a national standard. "For years, there have been complaints that we dragged our feet as air quality declined," said DPR Director Mary-Ann Warmerdam. "That is history. This Administration is committed to cleaning up our air, and DPR will do its part to achieve that goal. The challenges are difficult, but if government and industry work together, we will help our environment, enhance our economy, and create a model pesticide air program for the nation." <more> May 30, 2006 DPR Press Release
   

• Ag burning rule up for discussion June 5 - - Potential changes to the air quality rules governing burning of agricultural waste will be discussed at a scoping meeting to be held June 5 at the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District’s office. The meeting will be video-conferenced to the district’s Modesto and Fresno offices. The regulations, known formally as Rule 4103 (Open Burning), are required under state legislation SB 705 signed by Gov. Davis in 2003. The scoping session will deal with the prohibition on burning orchard removals which is scheduled to be enforced as of June 1, 2007. District staff will present preliminary information on alternatives to burning ag waste. Farm groups are being asked to provide technical feasibility and compliance information that may be used in developing the draft rule. The meeting begins at 1:30 p.m. at the Fresno office, 1990 E. Gettysburg Ave.   Documents associated with this meeting can be downloaded from the District's website at http://www.valleyair.org/Workshops/public_workshops_idx.htm May 18, 2006 Air District Press Release
   

• Agriculture works to clear air on volatile organic compounds regulations. - - It’s been an environmental murmur in the agricultural industry for almost two decades now, but the ramifications could soon be seismic if the issue of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from pesticide emissions are not given due diligence. VOCs contribute to the formation of ground level ozone and are regulated under the federal Clean Air Act. “VOC emissions are essentially the next step for pesticide regulation,” says Paul Buttner, manager of environmental affairs for the California Rice Commission. “We’ve long assessed pesticides for impacts on water quality and wildlife. Air is the new frontier. Future VOC regulation will likely elevate pesticides to more of an even par with other pollutants.” Many pollutant sources contribute to VOC emissions, including vehicular traffic, oil and gas production, dairy waste and many more. In the grand scheme of air quality, VOC emissions from pesticides are only a minor contributor, estimated to account for less than 3 percent of the VOC emissions inventory in California, according to the California Air Resources Board (ARB). However, in certain agricultural areas such as the San Joaquin Valley and the Sacramento Valley, pesticide VOC emissions are estimated to account for as much as 10 percent of the inventory. <more> May 11, 2006 Western Farm Press

Water Quality

• Ag Waiver requirements to increase this summer - - The next phase of the Conditional Ag Waiver for Irrigated Lands program begins this summer, and could have significant long-term impacts on the availability and regulations for many commonly used crop protection products in almonds. Under Phase II of the Conditional Ag Waivers program, watershed coalitions this summer will expand their toxicity sampling procedures to screen for more than 50 commonly used pesticides. The expanded sampling requirement could raise coalition dues as much as 50 percent for almond growers and other farmer members. <more> April 2006 Environmental Stewardship Newsletter

Crop Protection

• EPA Drops Plan to Approve Methyl Bromide Substitute - - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has withdrawn its plan to approve a highly toxic fumigant for strawberries and other high-value crops after California officials, labor unions, environmentalists and others objected that nearby residents and farmworkers could be in danger. The new pesticide, methyl iodide, is designed to replace methyl bromide, which is banned under an international treaty because it damages the Earth's ozone layer. Strawberry growers, concentrated mostly in Ventura and Santa Cruz counties, have been searching for nearly 15 years for a fumigant to replace methyl bromide, which they have been phasing out but are still using under exemptions granted by the United Nations. Facing criticism that it was substituting one dangerous chemical for another, the EPA decided not to register methyl iodide, also known as iodomethane. It will reevaluate the pesticide next year. <more> April 27, 2006 LA Times
   

General Industry News

• Mounds of almonds.  Subjective forecast is 1.02 billion pounds - - Despite weather worries early in the year, the state's almond crop will likely bounce back to 1 billion pounds, a federal agency reported Wednesday. Industry people were concerned that the harvest would fall short for a second straight year because of cold and rainy conditions during and after the late-winter bloom. But plenty of nuts have emerged on the branches, and the August-November harvest looks to be a strong one, the National Agricultural Statistics Service said in its initial report for 2006. "It started off a little scary, but it's made a nice recovery," said Doug Flohr, a statistician for the agency, during a briefing at the Almond Board of California offices in Modesto. The report, known as the "subjective" estimate, was based on a telephone survey of 368 growers, representing 24 percent of the acreage. The "objective" estimate, based on the agency's own inspection of the orchards, will be released in late June. <more> May 11, 2006 Modesto Bee  
   

• 100,000 acres of almonds moving into production. Experts predict the California almond crop will reach 1.5 billion pounds annually with a few years. - - There have been 100,000 acres of new almond orchards planted in California within the past three years, according to the California field office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service. These new orchards can easily produce 300 million pounds more annually of almonds when they reach maturity. These orchards will be added to the estimated 580,000 bearing acreage inventory now in the ground that have proven to easily produce more than 1 billion pounds annually. <more> May 22, 2006 Western Farm Press
   

• One nutty pest. Leaffooted plant bug strikes almonds and pistachios. - - A flying brown bug with a long, piercing snout is giving central San Joaquin Valley nut growers fits. The leaffooted plant bug has been found from Kern to Butte counties, with damage ranging from insignificant to severe, said University of California farm advisers who have been helping growers battle the bug. "This can be a major pest for almonds and pistachios," said Mark Freeman, a UC farm adviser in Fresno. "And just a few bugs can cause severe damage. They don't just hit one nut; they hit hundreds." Freeman said he knows of one farmer who lost a third of his almond crop to the inch-long bug. He said dollar losses on what had been expected to be a bumper crop could escalate into the thousands. <more> May 31, 2006 Fresno Bee
  
   

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