The Air Up There: Almond growers rely on research and technology to comply with myriad air quality rules

摘要

CALIFORNIA almond growers farm some of the most fertile, productive ground in the world. Unfortunately, they also farm a region with some of the worst air quality in the nation. Air quality regulations are changing the way almond growers farm, harvest, and transport their crops, while adding considerably to their costs. These rules, some of them pending and others already on the books, come from federal, state, and regional levels, and they are sometimes confusing, overlapping, and even conflicting.Air quality regulations focus on three general kinds of air pollution: ozone, dust, and greenhouse gases.