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Steve Murray has been farming in Kern County for decades, and he knows firsthand the thrill of harvest and the agony of the freeze.

So when you ask him about the pros and cons of a government program designed to end the practice of open-field burning, don't expect him to sugarcoat his response.

Murray knows growers have used open-field burning since time immemorial to get rid of grapevines that have seen better days or tree orchards that have outlived their usefulness.

But he's also aware that the San Joaquin Valley is a topographic bowl that traps air pollution, and therefore understands that burning thousands of tons of almond trees, pistachio orchards and table grape vineyards every year is an outdated methodology.

"Nobody now wants to burn," he said of most growers. But there are challenges in finding alternatives.

Last year, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District received $178.2 million in new state funding to launch an expanded grant program to assist farmers in phasing out the open-field burning of woody waste through the use of new, cleaner practices, including the chipping and grinding of material for incorporation into the soil.

The Alternatives to Agricultural Open Burning Incentive Program a name only a government agency could love essentially pays farmers to chip material instead of burning it.

Then the woody product is integrated into the soil in a process sometimes called whole orchard recycling.

Not only does it keep particulate pollutants out of the air in the form of smoke and soot, it keeps millions of tons of carbon out of the atmosphere through carbon sequestration.

According to studies sponsored by the Almond Board of California, growers can increase their yields by chipping up their old trees and incorporating the material back into the soil. The process reintroduces needed minerals and helps orchards retain water.

But not every grower is yanking out vineyards or ripping out aging trees.

Tom Pavich is a grape grower east of Edison. He's aware of efforts to end open-field burning, but he doesn't expect it to affect him anytime soon.

"I am a grape grower," Pavich said, "but I have not pulled out any vineyards recently and don't have any plans to in the future.

"In theory, I support the concept of an incentive," he said. "Without an incentive, removing a landowner's right would be an illegal taking under the Fifth Amendment, which would require some form of just compensation."

The program is available to growers throughout the valley, with dedicated and enhanced funding available to smaller farming operations like Pavich Family Farms.

"Working with valley growers, communities and state partners, the San Joaquin Valley is once again demonstrating unique leadership in tackling air quality and climate challenges through the only-of-its-kind strategy to eliminate open burning of orchard and vineyard removals," Samir Sheikh, executive director of the air district, said in a news release.

"We strongly urge growers, especially smaller farming operations, to carefully plan for these new requirements and take advantage of new resources for new alternatives that help with our air quality challenges and also provide significant additional crop and carbon-reduction benefits," he said.

According to the air district, since the adoption of the new phaseout requirements, and the incentive programs that help growers swallow that pill, the valley has charted a significant reduction in ag burning, and is on track to achieving a 90 percent reduction by the end of this year.

Anyone who remembers the huge plumes of smoke that rose from neighboring farm fields in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, will recognize how historic such a reduction in ag burning is.

And the help isn't just for mega-farms and corporate operations.

Additional requirements for smaller growers at the end of 2022 and 2023 will continue to provide for additional reductions in open burning prior to the phaseout by the end of 2024, the valley air district said in its news release.

The district, in collaboration with the California Air Resources Board, intends to phase out most burning by the end of 2024.

"Working with our valley growers to reduce this practice through new technologies is critically important to improving public health for our residents, particularly in rural valley communities, Tania Pacheco-Werner, both a valley air district and CARB board member, stated in the release.

"Newly available resources will help valley growers transition to these new practices in a feasible manner that protects our communities' health and livelihood," she said.

For Murray, practical challenges sometimes get in the way of worthwhile goals.

He talked about the metal wire that gets caught up in and wound around grapevines that makes chipping difficult. And wood posts sometimes used in vineyards are chemically treated to keep from rotting in the soil.

"You can't burn the posts or bury the posts or take them to the dump," he said. "That's a whole nother issue."

But Murray is all for chipping and reusing the wood products he grows and integrating them back into the soil.

"It's one of the things we aspire toward," he said. "It's an inevitability. Everything we can do, we got to do, to clean up the air."

Reporter Steven Mayer can be reached at 661-395-7353. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @semayerTBC.

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The goal is to end open-field burning by growers success may be in the air - The Bakersfield Californian