 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Air Quality Funding Boost For California Agriculture
Fresno CA (SPX) May 12, 2009 Dave White, Chief of the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, enriched California's air quality resources by $5 million during his first visit to California as head of the national conservation agency. The additional money will bring to $20.9 million the funds NRCS in California is making available to help farmers and ranchers reduce air quality emissions from off-road mobile or stationary agricultural sources. Applications are being taken until June 26, 2009. "These funds should help California producers comply with local and state regulations," said White who is in California to chair the national Agricultural Air Quality Task Force meeting in Fresno. "We believe agriculture can be on the leading edge of setting a cleaner, greener example for protecting the air we all breathe. We're doing what we can to help in that pursuit - technically and financially." The funds will share the costs of practices that have been shown to reduce ozone precursors [oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)] and particulate matter [respirable (PM10) and fine (PM2.5)] emissions from agricultural sources. Applications will be ranked and funded based on the amount of emission reductions achieved in the proposed plan. Funded practices include the NRCS' combustions system air emissions management practice to improve high polluting engines with newer, reduced-emission technologies. Stationary, portable and heavy-duty off-road mobile systems will be included. Other covered air quality practices will include conservation tillage, dust control on farm roads, precision pest control, and manure injection. The primary goal of this new portion of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is to help farmers and ranchers attain the standards set by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Producers in the 36 California counties that are currently not in compliance with one or more of these standards are eligible for the new air quality portion of the EQIP program. The 36 eligible counties are: Alameda, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Merced, Mono, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura and Yolo. Interested applicants in eligible counties should contact their local NRCS service center. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology
Better Water Use Could Reduce Future Food CrisesStockholm, Sweden (SPX) May 12, 2009 The challenge of meeting future water needs under the impacts of climate change and rapidly growing human demands for water may be less bleak than widely portrayed a team of Swedish and German scientists says. If the overall water resources in river basins were acknowledged and managed better, future food crises could be significantly reduced, say researchers from Stockholm Resilience Cent ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2009 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook