The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is considering ways to promote a more widespread adoption of conservation tillage practices. Reducing dust from tilling would fulfill a commitment in the district’s 2018 PM2.5 State Implementation Plan. Practices could include cover cropping, no- or low-till farming, and precision agriculture.
The rule change to the plan may add control measures for fallowed land that is then worked up, according to the Western Agricultural Processors Association.
At a workshop last month, CEO Roger Isom urged the district to base its decisions on scientific data and proven reductions in PM2.5 particulates. Isom was skeptical the rule change would result in significant reductions and called it an aggressive timeline. He noted that millions of research dollars and years of academic study went into the measures already in the plan.
