Farmworkers, environmentalists file suit to stop reapproval of herbicide paraquat [San Francisco Chronicle]
Groups of farmworkers and environmentalists asked a federal appeals court Friday to reject the Biden administration’s 15-year reapproval of paraquat, a widely used herbicide that has been linked to Parkinson’s disease in many studies. Paraquat kills weeds on cotton, soybeans, almonds, grapes and other crops, and has become one of the nation’s most commonly used herbicides, particularly in California and some Midwestern states, where its application has doubled in the past decade. It is banned, however, in 32 countries, including China — whose government owns Syngenta, the chemical’s principal manufacturer — and much of the European Union. The Environmental Protection Agency under President Donald Trump proposed in 2020 to renew U.S. registration of paraquat for 15 years, the renewal period set by law, while banning nearly all aerial spraying of the herbicide. In August, President Biden’s EPA director, Michael Regan, approved the 15-year renewal and went further by allowing aerial use in most agricultural areas.
New study confirms less water usage in vineyard can result in better grapes [Santa Rosa Press Democrat]
Academic research is showing that less water is better for the grape crop, which was valued at $357 million in 2020 in Sonoma County. It can even improve grape quality. A UC Davis study released earlier this month found that grape growers in our region can use less water on vines without affecting crop yields or quality. The research published in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science found that vineyards can use 50% of the irrigation water normally used by without degrading the fruit’s flavor, color and sugar content. The researchers focused on cabernet sauvignon at a research vineyard in Napa Valley over two growing seasons: a rainy one in 2019 and a hyper-arid one in 2020. The team examined the amount of water lost to the atmosphere from the vineyard system based on canopy size. The weekly tests used irrigation to replace 25%, 50% and 100% of what had been lost by the crop because of the evapotranspiration, which is the process by which water evaporates from the vine as well as the soil. “It is a significant finding,” said Kaan Kurtural, a UC Davis professor of viticulture and enology who led the study. “We don’t necessarily have to increase the amount of water supplied to grapevines.”
Bill Gates’ green tech fund bets on Silicon Valley farming robots [Reuters]
As California struggles with another crippling drought, a Silicon Valley startup that believes robots can grow produce more sustainably said it has raised $50 million in a funding round led by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Iron Ox uses robots that are integrated with a hydroponic system consuming 90% less water than traditional farms, said CEO Brandon Alexander. The company is putting that system to work at a 10,000-square foot (930 square meter) greenhouse in Gilroy, California, where a self-driving robot named Grover moves pallets of Genovese Basil and a robotic arm system lifts the pallets for inspection. Sensors check the water for nitrogen and acidity levels for healthy growth. “Then they say, ‘What is missing? What does that plant need that we’re not giving it’,” Alexander said.
California Moves on Climate Change, but Rejects Aggressive Cuts to Greenhouse Emissions [California Healthline]
As California trudges into another autumn marred by toxic wildfire smoke and drought-parched reservoirs, state lawmakers have cast climate change as a growing public health threat for the state’s 40 million residents. Last week, against the smoldering backdrop of Sequoia National Park, where the massive KNP Complex Fire is burning uncontained, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a $15 billion legislative package that he described as an unprecedented investment by any state in climate resiliency. The measure is one of several bills targeting the health impacts of perennial seasons of fire and drought that sailed through this year’s legislative session. Among the climate health bills that still await Newsom’s consideration are measures to make the state’s emergency stockpile of N95 masks available to farmworkers on days of dangerously smoky air and a requirement for the state to create detailed guidelines that counties can incorporate into emergency response plans when air quality is poor because of wildfire or other pollution.
‘Burn scars’ of wildfires threaten drinking water in much of California and the West [Kaiser Health News]
Wildfires and their lasting effects are becoming a way of life in the West, including California, as climate change and management practices cause fires to increase in number, intensity and acreage burned, while extending the length of the fire season. In “burn scars,” where fires decimated forest systems that held soil in place, an increase in droughts followed by heavy rainfall poses a different kind of threat to the water supplies that are essential to the health of communities. After the 2017 Tubbs and 2018 Camp fires that devastated the Northern California town of Paradise, researchers examining the tap water of nearby homes found benzene and other carcinogens. Public health researcher Gina Solomon at the Public Health Institute in Oakland, California, said the contamination likely came from plastic pipes that melted and leached chemicals into the water. Smoke and ash from burned structures may also add toxic chemicals to water supplies. “The smoke from the fires is a truly nasty brew,” Solomon said. Dirty, turbid water can contain viruses, parasites, bacteria and other contaminants that cause illness. But experts say turbid water from burn scars is unlikely to make it to people’s taps, because water utilities would catch it first. Still, the cost to municipal utility systems — and the residents who pay for water — is immense. Rural small towns in particular face the choice between spending millions of dollars to try to filter turbid water or shutting off their intake and risking shortages.
Wildfire updates: KNP Complex passes 45,000 acres; more extreme fire behavior possible [Fresno Bee]
The KNP Complex fire burning in Sequoia National Park was listed at 45,790 acres and 8% containment in a Sunday update, with no new evacuation warnings or orders issued within the past 24 hours. California Army National Guard troops continue to work in the northern areas of the fire to protect park infrastructure, a structure protection crew is working around the Hartland area south of Highway 180, and preparations are being made to drop fire retardant on sequoia trees in the Muir Grove as weather permits. A brief cooling trend in the next few days will help firefighters, but clearing skies and less smoke could also lead to an increase in active to extreme fire behavior in the area.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/california/fires/article254543617.html
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