Posts Tagged: regulations

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.

Farmers should watch out for the 'heat'

No matter how small the farm, the operator must have a workers' compensation policy and comply with other regulations - even if they are getting on-farm assistance only from family, said UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Richard Molinar in a press release picked up by GrowingProduce.com.

If farms are found to be out of compliance, they could be hit with substantial fines. Molinar provided the following example:

A refugee strawberry farmer who speaks very little English was fined $2,000 by Labor Standards Enforcement for not having workers’ compensation insurance for his wife and uncle who work on their half-acre strawberry patch next to their home in Visalia. They sell the berries only from their roadside stand. He was also fined $195 for not having a documented Illness Prevention Program and $260 for no documented heat illness prevention program for his wife and uncle.

The release said growers can find out more about farming regulations by contacting Molinar or his assistant, Michael Yang, in the Fresno County UC Cooperative Extension Office.

Michael Yang, left, and Richard Molinar advise a small-scale farmer.

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