A new ban on field burning starts this summer, but exceptions are in place for farms hit hard by disease or insects.
The state’s new ban on field burning goes into effect this summer, but a small amount of burning will be allowed for farmers in particularly tough straights.
Farms hit hard by insects or disease will be allowed to burn 2,000 acres, just 5 percent of the previous 40,000 acre allotment.
The continuing dispute over the 2,000-acre emergency burn allotment shows both how field burning remains a hot button topic, and how far the state has moved in largely eliminating field burning. In previous years, a single farmer in a single day might incinerate 2,000 acres of grass seed stubble. Now, that’s the total allocation for the entire year for all farmers in the south valley, and only if they meet the emergency criteria…
“You have to prove a high level of economic distress. It’s just too big of a hurdle. I really do not expect to see it used,” said [George] Pugh, a Shedd grass seed farmer.
Read more at the Register-Guard.
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