Lettuce

California Farmers Warn Proposed Nitrogen Limits Could Force Farms Out of Business

Wed, 27 May 2026 18:40:06 GMT

California agriculture helps feed the nation, producing more than 400 commodities and leading the U.S. in nuts, grapes, citrus and berries. But many farmers across the Golden State say the pressure of farming there is reaching a breaking point.

According to the Western Growers, California has lost roughly 30% of its farms over the past decade. At the same time, regulatory costs have surged from about $106 per acre 20 years ago to more than $1,600 per acre today. From water restrictions and rising labor costs to mounting environmental regulations, farmers say the challenges continue to grow.

Now, a proposed nitrogen fertilizer bill could become one of the biggest battles California agriculture has faced yet.

‘We Are Just Like You’

For Erik Hansen, a fifth-generation farmer in Corcoran, California, there is often a disconnect between how California farmers are perceived and what life is actually like on the farm.

“California is so unique,” Hansen says. “I think people do not understand how unique it is and the challenges and opportunities you face.”

Still, Hansen says California farmers are no different than producers anywhere else in rural America.

“I would say that we are just like you when it comes to how we want to raise our family,” Hansen says. “We just want to be able to make a living and enjoy what God has to offer. If somebody came from the West Plains of Texas or from corn country in Iowa and sat down at dinner with us, we would have the same kinds of conversations you would have with your neighbors.”

Hansen’s family not only farms in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, but also operates an aerial application business. He says one of the biggest challenges they face today involves local regulations governing how crop protection products are applied.

“I would say the biggest battle right now would be counties determining when and where and how you apply your materials,” Hansen says.

When asked if those decisions are made county by county, Hansen says they are.

“The state has its own laws, and then the county has to mitigate for what the state does,” Hansen says. “It is not really something that they have a whole lot of control over, but some counties are better than others as far as how they manage that.”

Growers Say Regulations Continue to Pile Up

Several hours north in Lodi, grape grower Rodney Schatz says farmers there are facing many of the same frustrations.

Schatz, who is third-generation in the grape business and owner of Peltier Winery, says the rising cost of farming in California is making survival increasingly difficult for growers already struggling with weak markets and difficult economics.

“What do I want people in the Midwest to know about farming in California?” Schatz says. “You are lucky you are not here.”

He says regulations coming from Sacramento continue to pile onto farmers year after year.

“We are inundated with just one regulation after another,” Schatz says. “They sit up there in Sacramento and find ways to make new regulations every day. Then they come down on us and say, ‘Here is what we decided to do,’ and we really have no say about it. You either succumb to the situation or they will fine you.”

Proposed Nitrogen Bill Raises Alarm

The crippling regulations only seem to be growing. Many farmers say they are especially concerned about a proposed California bill known as Assembly Bill 2447, also called the Nitrogen Pollution Reduction Act.

The proposal could significantly change how farmers use fertilizer and how closely their operations are monitored.

Renee Pinel, President and CEO, Western Plant Health Association based in Sacramento, Cali. says the proposal is designed to establish nitrogen application targets based on both agronomic goals and environmental standards.

“What they want is for California, on the fertilizer side, to work toward application targets on how much you should apply for a certain type of farm and a certain type of soil in order to get an agronomically sound return as well as an environmentally safe use of that product,” Pinel says. “Ultimately, they want limits.”

Pinel says more than 50 agricultural organizations, businesses and water coalitions across California oppose the legislation because they believe it would dramatically expand reporting requirements and place impossible burdens on producers.

“Their goal is to implement limits, do away with farm coalitions so that individual farmers have to report what they are using, not only what they use, but how they use it and where they are getting it from,” Pinel says. “It is a comprehensive reporting scheme.”

According to Pinel, the proposal would require individual farms to report fertilizer usage directly rather than allowing reporting to flow through water coalitions that currently represent groups of farmers.

“If you think about how many farms in California would have to be reporting, you are talking about 80,000 farms if you do it statewide,” Pinel says. “The water board would have to have a massive increase of employees to review all of those reports.”

Could Farmers Still Grow Crops?

Pinel says many growers fear the proposal could eventually force farmers to cut nitrogen applications so severely that producing crops would become impossible.

“The limits would not strictly be based on agronomic need,” Pinel says. “They would be driven to a large extent by impacted groundwater. If the analysis they do decides that in order to achieve improvements in groundwater over a five-year process means a farmer can only use 35 pounds of nitrogen on lettuce in a cycle, then that is what it is going to be. You cannot grow lettuce on 35 pounds per acre. It is just not going to happen.”

One farmer told Farm Journal discussions surrounding the proposal have included nitrogen-use levels as low as 27 pounds per acre for certain crops. That is far below what is currently needed to produce many California commodities. Citrus production often requires between 250 and 300 pounds of nitrogen per acre. Walnut production typically needs 200 to 250 pounds. Pistachios require around 100 pounds per acre.

Farmers say limiting those crops to 27 pounds per acre would effectively make production impossible.

But supporters of the legislation argue decades of fertilizer use have contributed to water and air pollution across California and created serious environmental and public health concerns.

Pinel points to the Natural Resources Defense Council as one of the sponsors behind the bill.

“We all know they are one of the most aggressive anti-pesticide and anti-conventional agriculture organizations in the country,” Pinel says.

California’s Strict Pesticide Rules Already in Place

California farmers also point to the state’s already extensive pesticide regulations as evidence that agriculture is heavily monitored.

Unlike many states, California requires licensed Pest Control Advisors, known as PCAs, to write what are essentially prescriptions for every pesticide application made on a farm.

“We are regulated really from two directions,” Pinel says. “You have your pesticide regulations, which require a state-licensed individual who has gone through multiple years of university education on top of practical experience, who are literally writing prescriptions for crop protection products to be utilized in California.”

Pinel says the process becomes even more restrictive when dealing with restricted-use products.

“Not only do you have to prescribe a specific type of product, but when you get into restricted-use products, you also have to describe alternative products that could have been considered and why you did not choose those as opposed to the product you actually prescribed,” Pinel says. “It is a very comprehensive process you have to go through.”

She says California’s pesticide oversight is already among the strictest in the world.

“It is very restrictive on the pesticide side,” Pinel says. “I would say easily the most restrictive in the world as far as our pesticide regulatory process.”

Concerns About the Future

For farmers like Scott Peters, he’s fourth-generation on Peter’s Fruit Farms. He says the growing regulatory burden raises concerns not just about today’s profitability, but about whether future generations will even be able to continue farming in California.

“If we keep going down the road we are on, they are just going to put us out of business,” Peters says. “I do not know what the next generation is going to do.”

Even with the challenges, Peters says California remains an incredible place to farm.

“California is a great state to farm,” Peters says. “We have great soils, we have good people, we have the mountains close by and the ocean close by. It is a neat place to be. It is just frustrating with the government and the regulations coming out of Sacramento.”

Broadband is Transforming How an Arizona County Uses Ag Tech

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 18:08:55 GMT

Imagine a future where autonomous tractors navigate the roads and fields as farmers give commands from miles away. This future also allows farmers to optimize water usage. Precision and efficiency take on entirely new meanings. A county in Arizona is working to make that future a reality.

The dry, hot, sand-colored landscape of Yuma County, Ariz., sprinkled with fields of bright green lettuce, is getting a boost from high-speed internet.

Today, farming is a matter of precision. With better internet comes better precision. According to the Association of Equipment Management , precision agriculture adoption leads to a 5% increase in crop farming productivity, a 5% reduction in water use and a 7% reduction in fuel consumption.

Turning the “Winter Lettuce Capital” into a Global High-Tech Testing Hub

Known as the “ Winter Lettuce Capital of the World ,” the Middle Mile Fiber Network and broadband system will bring better internet. This will ultimately help farmers implement the latest technology. Like roots from a plant, underground fibers now stretch throughout the county connected to 32 broadband towers that reach to the sky.

“It is exciting; there’s been a lot of products and things [such as water sensors] that I’ve wanted to do out on the farm, but without the ability to have permanent or productive internet services, I’ve been reluctant,” says Mike Pasquinelli, a local farmer and president of the Yuma Fresh Vegetable Association .

Yuma produces about 90% of the leafy greens for the U.S. in the winter. They’re hoping with the broadband system more companies will be attracted to test technology in Yuma.

“In our intense agricultural system we have the ability to farm year-round, so there’s a lot of advantages for companies to come in, test new products and develop new products,” Pasquinelli says.

Broadband Network is Fueling Yuma’s High-Tech Agricultural Future

From autonomous drones and tractors to water monitoring, the broadband system will allow agriculture to connect.

“Farming is not the farming of yesterday. This is not your mom and pops farm,” says Jonathan Lines , a Yuma County supervisor who helped get the project up and running. “This is a high-tech business for food production here in the United States.”

When it comes to herbicide and pesticide applications, the broadband system will allow for farmers to apply a much smaller droplet using a drone rather than an airplane or helicopter. Tractor and tech updates can be made in the field instead of having to be taken out of production and connected to a computer.

“It is a large game changer for our community as well as our county. If we want more sensors and more automation, we need the bandwidth to do it,” Pasquinelli says.

Gov. Hobbs Backs Broadband Network to Modernize Arizona Agriculture

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is in full support of the broadband network. In November 2025, Gov. Hobbs visited Yuma for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and to sign two bills. SB1320 and SB1661 are both meant to help support the project in some capacity:

SB 1320 updated the legal definition of “implements of husbandry,” otherwise known as farm equipment, to include autonomous equipment. This allows for the autonomous farm equipment like tractors to drive short distances on public roads.
SB 1661 created a legal structure for the broadband service district authority. This authority would be in charge of things such as facilitating the expansion and maintenance of broadband infrastructure.

Pasquinelli says these bills, along with the broadband project, will be helpful for Yuma farmers as they continue to navigate this technological boom. When the broadband network and autonomous technology are in full force, they can help Yuma farmers address labor challenges.

“The farm workforce is aging, and it’s more and more difficult to get labor out of Mexico, so automation is going to be really key as the workforce diminishes,” says Paul Brierly , director of the Arizona Department of Agriculture .

$6 Million Broadband Project Hopes to Attract Younger Workforce

The broadband network might also be able to solve the aging workforce by attracting more university students. Brierly believes with the research and investment tied to the network, along with Yuma’s landscape, it can be a hot spot for young scholastic minds.

“With climate change, more of the world is having to produce food in arid climates, so what we solve in Yuma County, and in Arizona, will apply and be useful all around the world,” he explains.

The project is set to cost around $6 million and the broadband network is expected to be up and running by the end of summer in August.

“Not only does that allow Yuma County farmers to use the latest technology but also this is going to be the most connected production area in the world,” Brierly says.

Specialty Crops Suffered Staggering Economic Losses in 2025, Will Relief Come in Time?

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 14:35:01 GMT

Economic losses to specialty crops last year were on a level that can put farming operations out of business.

The American Farm Bureau Federation estimates $3.6 billion in economic losses for almonds, $1.4 billion for apples, $763 million for lettuce, and $717 million for potatoes alone.

Specialty crop leaders this week renewed their calls for urgent economic support for U.S. growers and shared their disappointment after the U.S. House released final spending bills Jan. 20 that did not include aid for American specialty crop producers.

While the Specialty Crops Farm Bill Alliance (SCFBA) says specialty crops, including fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, nursery, greenhouse and floriculture products, generate more than $75 billion annually in U.S. agricultural cash receipts, account for more than one-third of all U.S. crop sales and support rural economies nationwide, under the current USDA Farmer Bridge Assistance program, $11 billion is allocated to row crops, and only $1 billion is reserved for specialty crops and other commodities, with key details on eligibility, payment and timing still unresolved.

“It’s a challenge with specialty crops to come up with aggregated data across all the more than 300 different commodities, but the American Farm Bureau Federation has done good analysis related to specialty crops,” says Kam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council and SCFBA co-chair.

“Effectively Farm Bureau is saying that if you’re going to have a relief plan rollout, specialty crops should be about a third of whatever Congress spits out,” he says.

Word on Capitol Hill is Congress is contemplating a total of $15 billion in assistance, SCFBA says.

“We agree with the one-third of whatever Congress comes up with, but also the package has to be large enough to make a material impact,” Quarles says. “The specialty crop industry has told Congress that we need no less than $5 billion in economic relief for specialty crops in order to positively move the needle for growers.

With food affordability still a top focus for many consumers, what happens to the cost of fruits, vegetables and other grocery staples if specialty crops don’t receive the aid they desperately need?

“We’re facing an unprecedented economic crisis in the U.S. right now for agriculture, and it’s not just specialty crops, it’s broader than that,” Quarles says. “If you have growers that are going out of business due to this economic crisis, that’s going to further impact supplies of commodities. It’s going to impact prices, and it will add to the affordability issue.”

Last week SCFBA joined American Farm Bureau Federation and ag organizations across the U.S. in penning a letter to Congress highlighting record-high input costs, labor shortages, weather challenges and historically low market prices that have caused farmers to face negative margins and nearly $100 billion in losses nationwide.

Reasons for Optimism

Quarles says feedback from both the House and Senate appropriations committees on the specialty crop crisis has been encouraging.

“They absolutely understand where we’re coming from,” he says. “The other thing to remember is that there have been fundamental changes in tax policy that were put into law last summer, and they’ve already started to come online. And when some of the trade agreements that have been discussed are finalized, they also could create a more competitive environment, along with the tax policy.”

But could this be a case of too little, too late?

“These policy recommendations could create a much better environment in the future, but if you’re out of business before you ever get to that better environment, it just doesn’t matter,” Quarles says. “So that’s the imperative of this economic relief; we need a short-term safety net or a bridge, whatever you want to call it, to get producers from this crisis into an area where they can start to take advantage of some of these changes.”

Another bright spot, he says, is how effectively the industry, along with he and his SCFBA co-chairs, including Cathy Burns, CEO of the International Fresh Produce Association; Mike Joyner, president of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association; and Dave Puglia, president and CEO of Western Growers, are working together.

“The industry has really rallied together under the umbrella of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance,” Quarles says. “Twenty years ago, this was not the way the industry worked, but the alliance has created a kind of muscle memory, where we know how to all get around the table. We know how to look at a particular situation, develop a strategy, and then everybody disperses out to where they have strengths across the United States.”

“It has really been the best of the fresh produce industry rallying together to try to get some relief for our grower members,” he continues. “I’m very hopeful that we’re going to get something positive done here.”

Startup Strengthens Seeds With UV Light

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 06:09:22 GMT

New Zealand based BioLumic uses proprietary UV treatment systems to increase the performance of seedlings and seeds.

Today it announced the close of $5 million in Series A financing, which was led Finistere Ventures and Radicle Growth acceleration fund, with Rabobank’s Food & Agri Innovation Fund and existing investors from New Zealand also joining this round.

The short-duration UV treatments aim to provide long-term benefits including: improved crop consistency, increased yield and stronger disease resistance. The treatments are designed to be complementary to traditional chemical or biological treatments.

Initially focused on lettuce, broccoli, strawberry and tomato seedlings BioLumic has worked with large-scale produce growers and processors in California and Mexico with yield gains of up to 22 percent, and commercial trials are taking place in Spain and the United Kingdom.

The latest funding round will in part be focused to expand into row crop seeds.

“Light is an extremely powerful biological tool that can safely manipulate plants without the concerns often associated with genetic modification, chemical usage, and other unnatural treatments,” says BioLumic CEO Warren Bebb. “BioLumic is the only company using light as an ag treatment at the beginning of a plant’s life. Exposure to a short-duration treatment of UV-enriched light at a critical stage in a plant’s development turns on characteristics to help the seed or seedling more effectively defend itself against disease or pest attacks and more efficiently use water and nutrients from the soil for its entire lifespan.”