Ventura’s Air Pollution Control District issues $4.5 million to reduce agriculture equipment emissions
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. - The Ventura County Air Pollution Control District announced the distribution of $4.57 million in grants to replace heavy farm equipment with lower-emission versions on Tuesday.
The 59 pieces of heavy farm equipment selected from the more than 200 requests for grants are projected to reduce annual emissions of carbon dioxide by 713 metric tons, ozone precursors by 34 tons, and 2.4 tons of diesel particulate matter state the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District.
Grants were awarded through the state's Funding Agriculture Replacement Measures for Emission Reductions (FARMER) Program and the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program and encourage the replacement of aging equipment by covering most of the cost explain the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District.
The 11 grant awardees through the FARMER program are: Alex James Cuevas, Ishibashi Farms LLC, Gourmet Specialties Inc., Oceanview Produce LLC, Rancho Harvest Inc., Fortino L. Sanchez, Southland Sod Farms Operations Inc. and United Growers Berry Farms in Oxnard; Coastal Orchard Services and Maria Lopez in Fillmore; and Placco LLC in Somis.
According to the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, FARMER program guidelines recommend that at least half the funds go to disadvantaged communities and five percent to low-income areas and in this batch of funding, all but one of the
All but one of the 15 pieces of equipment being replaced are used in areas designated as either disadvantaged, low-income, or both detail the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District.
The following 32 businesses were recipients of grants through the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program: B&A Flowers, Kathleen Ferrante, Nunes Custom Farming, Sierra Pacific Farms Inc./Somis Pacific Ag Management and Jim Thiessen in Somis; Berrington Ranch LLC, Camulos Ranch LLC, Hector A. Lopez, Mejia & Sons Nursery, Pinnacle Farm Labor Inc. and William and Shelly Morris Trust in Fillmore; Boething Treeland Farms Inc., Estanco Inc./Corona’s Nursery, Alice E. Lee, Alejandro Murillo and Enrique Rojas in Moorpark; Brokaw Nursery Inc., Holladay Organics Inc., Jose Luis Morales, Sam Ag Service and Santos Palacios in Santa Paula; Leon Farming, R.N.M Farm LLC and Zendejas Farms in Camarillo; Arnold Meyerstein and Daisy Nevarez in Ventura; Ito Brothers Inc. in Camarillo and Ventura; Mike’s Farm Labor and Monarca Berries Inc. in Oxnard; Julie Munro in Ojai; and Performance Landscape Inc. and Yao Cheng Farm Inc. in Santa Rosa Valley.
