Some farmers opposed to runoff reporting rules

A group of farmers are "adamantly opposed" to new rules that would require electronic reporting of contaminated water discharges from their farms, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times.

Under regulations proposed by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, farmland would be classified based on the contamination risk. Farms considered most likely to pollute groundwater would have to take certain steps to reduce agricultural runoff. If passed, the new rules would affect 35,000 growers who work about 7 million acres of irrigated land.

The Times reported that more than a dozen growers of rice, hay, grain and other crops in the Sacramento Valley watershed submitted a letter outlining their opposition to the proposed regulations.

"Being a small diversified farmer has become increasingly difficult with regulatory burdens exploding over these last few years," the letter said.

Complying with the electronic reporting requirement would be "an impossibility" for roughly half of its 600 ranchers and farmers. Thirty percent do not have Internet access and do not own a computer, the letter said, adding that another 20 percent use dial-up access or must drive to a free Wi-Fi establishment.

This argument caught the eye of Fresno Bee columnist Bill McEwen. He scoffed at the idea that some farmers don't have Internet access.

"Elementary school children have laptops. Big-rig drivers don't go anywhere without their laptops and cell phones. Detroit makes pickup trucks . . . that serve as mobile, high-tech offices," McEwen wrote. "These days, what business - big or small - isn't online? Only farms, apparently."

McEwen wrote indignantly about farmers' seeming double standard in terms of their technological savvy.

"Heaven forbid that the state cut funding for University of California ag programs," McEwen wrote. "Without the UC, farmers say, they wouldn't have access to the latest research and tips on how to make use of cutting-edge technology."

However, when asked to do their part to ensure clean water for rural populations, "suddenly some growers are Luddites."

The Times said the issue will be taken up by the water board at meetings June 8-10 in Rancho Cordova.

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