The Colusa County Board of Supervisors were unanimous this year in authorizing the county’s participation in the FARMER’s program for 2022.
The Funding Agriculture Replacement Measures for Emission Reduction (FARMER) program provides grant funding for Air Pollution Control Districts to help farmers replace aging and high-polluting tractors and agriculture engines with new, cleaner models.
The state has allocated about $213 million to air pollution districts for the next funding cycle, said Casey Ryan, who administers the Colusa County program.
“The grant money comes to us to reduce harmful emissions that older engines produce during use in agriculture operations,” Ryan said.
Ryan said the grants allow farmers to replace old tractors, Ag pumps, harvesters, and just about any old gas or diesel powered Ag equipment.
The district has participated in the program since 2017. The first FARMER cycle funded $1.3 million for 21 projects, mostly tractor replacements. The second cycle (2018-2019) funded another 21 projects at $1.2 million, Ryan said.
Ryan said the Board of Supervisors had initially turned down the funding for the FARMER 3 program because only large growers benefited, but reversed that decision amid concerns that it would negatively impact the local economy.
Farmer 3 provided less money from the state, Ryan said, but did fund 10 projects at around $478,000.
To provide for small farmers, Colusa County in 2021 developed an Alternative Assistant Replacement Program, using the county’s unspent administration revenue from the FARMER 2 program to provide $143,367 in funding for five projects.
Ryan said, once again, the county will use unspent administration funds from the Farmer 3 program to provide for the Alternative Assistant Replace Program for small farmers, which has the full support of the California Air Resources Board, which provides the funding.
Meanwhile, Ryan expects Colusa County will be tentatively approved this year for about $1.1 million in project funding under the FARMER 4 cycle, plus funding to administer the program.
“It’s not written in stone yet,” Ryan said. “We are still waiting for approval.”
Farmers participating in the program are required to pay for 40 percent of the new equipment costs. The program provides for 60 percent, Ryan said.
Projects are approved based on the engine model year of the equipment, the horsepower, engine tier, and hours of use. ■