Sick Of The Smog? Blame The Farmers

LOS ANGELES, CA — Infamous for its clogged freeways and smoggy cities, it’s little wonder that California has the worst air quality in the nation. Despite years of strict laws aimed at reducing carbon emissions, however, Golden State residents are still choking on the worst pollution in the country.

Now we know why.

A new study out of the University of California, Davis found that state regulators are missing a primary culprit: fertilizer. The car fumes are bad, but the Central Valley farms that provide a third of the nation’s fruits, vegetables and nuts are to blame for up to about 40 percent of the state’s nitrogen oxides emissions, Mother Jones reported.

The scientists used airplanes to measure air samples above the Central Valley during the summer of 2016.

“In California, it was previously assumed that most of the NOx emissions were coming from [motor vehicles], with a very small percentage coming from soils,” Maya Almaraz, a postdoctoral researcher at UC-Davis and an author on the study, told Mother Jones. “What we found is that there is potentially a much larger source coming from soils than we previously thought—and a lot of that is coming from cropland soils.”

The scientists concluded that state grossly erred in attributing only 4 percent of the California’s nitrogen oxides emissions to crops. It’s more like 40 percent, they estimated. Regulators underestimated the degree that farms contributed to California’s pollution because air quality samples were traditionally taken near Sacramento rather than agricultural hotspots, Mother Jones reported.

The miscalculation has real effects on people's lives as pollution is tied to birth defects, asthma and cancer.

The pollution stems from the farming industry’s heavy reliance on fertilizer. The study’s authors predict the problem is only going to get worse unless a concerted effort is made reduce reliance on fertilizer.

“Recent climate changes in California have caused pronounced heat waves and drought — factors which could exacerbate biogenic NOx emissions, leading to increased air pollution…” the scientists concluded. The study's authors hope the findings will prompt legislators and air quality regulators to take a closer look at the toll fertilizer is taking on Californians’ health.

Photo by Josh Rose on Unsplash