Sacramento — The fertilizer and agrichemical industry has voiced support for Governor Jerry Brown’s signing of AB 2174, which allows technical assistance projects to be eligible as a category of funding under the Fertilizer Research and Education Program (FREP) of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. FREP, funded by an assessment on fertilizers, was established 20 years ago to address nitrate contamination from agricultural sources in groundwater. The program offers grants for research, education, and now technical assistance projects. The approval of this bill, which comes at a time when many Extension programs have been losing funding and manpower, will allow the University of California Cooperative Extension, local Resource Conservation Districts, nonprofits, and others to apply for funding for projects that help growers develop nutrient management plans. Western Plant Health Association (WPHA) released a statement saying the research developed by FREP has been a leading tool in developing practices to allow growers to apply fertilizers in an “agronomically sound and environmentally safe” manner. “FREP has developed scientifically sound data demonstrating the environmental safety of fertilizers in areas like non-nutritive elements in fertilizers, and the negligible contribution of fertilizer applications to climate change,” WPHA said. “WHPA believes that AB 2174 maintains the protocols that provide for the independent, scientifically, and agronomically sound review process from which FREP research projects are selected, while better identifying or clarifying project categories that FREP has traditionally considered for grant selection.” A report released earlier this year said agriculture was responsible for more than 95 percent of the nitrate groundwater contamination in the Tulare Lake Basin and Salinas Valley.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain