Residue Burn

 Residue…what to do with residue? A time worn solution to crop residue can be found in a matchbook. That’s right, farmers throughout the Northwest have always found burning the leftover stubble from specific crops was an excellent way to get rid of waste and re-charge fields. But of course there’s the air that everybody breathes to take into consideration and that’s where the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality steps in. Under the new crop residue burning program in Idaho, growers must register any field they wish to burn with the Idaho DEQ at least 30 days before burning. Growers must also pay a $2 per acre fee to DEQ at least seven days prior to the proposed burn date.

The new program was created after a 2007 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made Idaho's program allowing farmers to burn crop residue invalid. So, farmers, environmentalists and state leaders negotiated a new plan that went into effect last fall.

According to Air Quality Science Officer  Bobby Dye, so far so good: “Right now we’re getting a lot of positive feedback, trying to reach the growers and trying to educate them, as well as reach the citizens and the sensitive populations like the schools and the nursing homes and letting them know as well that if they are impacted by smoke, they can always give us a call.