Ag Burning Pt 3 Sept 10

For California AG today, I'm Mike Stephens. To conclude our conversation on open burning of agricultural materials, the byproduct materials is a growing concern. Rran Jacobson, CEO of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, describes solutions.

There is a lot of discussions going on across the board trying to figure out what to do with it. I know some growers have considered using it for putting on top of a dirt road. I know other growers are experimenting with other opportunities to do things. I would say there's a lot of creativity being explored right now trying to figure out what to do with them. And don't forget, this coincides at the same exact time that there's a massive amount of wood coming down from the forest, from the fires that we've experienced up in the Sierra Nevada above us there. So not only have we generated significant wood waste, there's also a significant amount coming down from the from the mountains there.

The grape side of things continues to

Be an issue. So the big issue that we've been working on as the local community is trying to figure out the grape side of things and the reason that vineyards are the top of the discussion is because we have a significant issue with the incorporation of wire within those vines. And so that limits to a certain extent, limits our ability to chip if you don't have the right chipper. And so that's why those have been exclusively burn historically, because they're so in the process of having to remove the wire and remove the stakes from the grapevine has been historically very cost prohibitive. And so we're trying to find economic ways to deal with that particular issue.