Agricultural Burning Now Banned in California 20 Years After Phase-Out Law Signed

Senate Bill 705 aimed to improve air quality in the San Joaquin Valley and called for a gradual phase-out of agricultural burning.

Rows of trees with white blossoms at the Fresno County Blossom Trail in Fresno, Calif., on Feb. 27, 2021. Ilene Eng/The Epoch Times

California’s Central Valley is known for its agricultural productivity, supplying 40 percent of the nation’s fruits and nuts, and is home to more than 250 different crops. For more than a century, farmers in the region torched old crops, diseased plants, and other farming debris, but now they are facing a near-total ban on agricultural burning.

A law taking full effect this year prohibits open burning in orchards and vineyards. This comes two decades after the bill was passed and signed into law in 2003.