New law bans agriculture burning in California. Why did it take so long to enact?
As new laws take effect for Californians this year, one rule affecting farmers stands out: the near-total ban of agriculture burning.
For more than a century, farmers have torched piles of aging or diseased trees, vines and other farming debris in open fields. The black, acrid smoke could be seen for miles. Burning was easy, cheap and effective.
But in the San Joaquin Valley, the state’s agricultural heartland, the deep-rooted practice of burning has also contributed to the region’s poor air quality and its related health problems, including asthma.
Tired of seeing the region’s air quality worsen, former California state senator Dean Florez introduced a bill in 2003 that would change all that.
Although the bill passed and became law, it would take 20 years for it to be enacted, as it was delayed by regulators and opposition from farmers.
But the excuses finally ran out, Florez said, and the law took effect this month.
“My sole goal has always been to eliminate agricultural burning — a vestige of the past that I remember vividly from my childhood in the Central Valley,” Florez wrote in an e-mail. “Growing up, I often wondered why those plumes of fire and smoke were allowed to darken our skies. It symbolized an outdated practice that needed to change, and I’ve carried that vision with me ever since.”
Florez, who left the state legislature in 2010, joined the California Air Resources Board in 2016 to shepherd the new law through.
“When I joined CARB, it was with the understanding that this was the regulatory body capable of finally closing this chapter. The local air district had used loopholes to perpetuate agricultural burning, and I knew my role as a regulator would be critical to seeing this practice eliminated once and for all,” Florez said.
Alternative methods include air curtain burners
Part of the farmers’ concerns about the new law was the added cost of hiring a shredding company to break down trees, limbs and vineyards so they can be worked into the soil.
To help offset the added costs of not burning, the California Legislature appropriated $180 million to CARB for the San Joaquin Valley Air Quality Control District grant program for farmers using alternative methods, including chipping and shredding and a low-smoke burning system called an air curtain burner.
The air curtain burner is a large metal fire box that uses a high-velocity fan to blow across the top of the burning material, creating a curtain of air that traps smoke and unburned particles, forcing them back into the fire to be burned completely.
An air curtain burner can reduce smoke and particulate matter by as much as 90%, according to industry estimates.
Farmers respond to California ag burning ban
One Fresno County wine grape grower has already used the burner to dispose of 800 acres of grape varieties that have fallen out of favor with consumers. The grower plans to replant with newer, more popular varieties.
Vineyard manager Hortencia Alvarado estimates the cost of using the air curtain burner was about $650 an acre. The company also applied to the grant program to try and recoup some of the costs.
“It’s going to be a challenge to adapt to a new way of doing things, but we have to,” Alvarado said. “It’s a scary time, but also an interesting one. We have lots of new things to learn.”
Nick Davis, a diversified farmer in Madera County, said he understands that the industry needs to change some of its practices, like agriculture burning, if it wants to survive in California.
“Most farmers know the direction we are going,” Davis said, “and even though it is going to be a challenge, we support the changes.”
Demand for air curtain burners
One Stanislaus County company that provides air curtain burners has been slammed with requests for their burn boxes.
Randy Baranek, project manager for Fowler Brothers Farming in Waterford, has been hired by everyone from four-acre farmers to some of the largest wine grape growers in the state.
“If we need to, we can burn 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Baranek said.
The air curtain burners are allowed because they produce a fraction of the smoke and harmful small particulate matter generated through open air burning.
The new law also provides minor exemptions such as the burning of small amounts of material due to disease issues or state-ordered removals, safety or water quality concerns that preclude alternative methods, and specific cases like vegetative materials on rice field levees or diseased beehives, Florez said.
This story was originally published January 12, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
