Dickcissel - a grassland bird. Photo Credit: Amy Larson

In an effort to improve the sustainability and health of their land, farmers are increasingly interested in taking a systems approach to farmland management. A systems approach acknowledges the key connections between ecological, economic, and social components. Given the ensuing complexity, measuring the health of a farm system requires good diagnostic tools. In addition, these tools need to be clear and straightforward.

Our current effort at the University of Nebraska Lincoln to develop a set of such indicators for farmers, the Healthy Farm Index, focuses on biodiversity and ecosystem services at the farm scale. One indicator in the index is the presences of a given set of birds on the farm. Birds are a popular indicator because they are sensitive to change in farm practices, found broadly in the environment, and are easy to detect by sight and sound.

The ability to detect birds by sound has spurred our research group to develop resources to aid farmers and other people interested in the songs and calls of farmland birds. As researchers, we use auditory detections of birds as one of our primary monitoring tools. With acoustic recorders, we have recorded the songs and calls of our local bird communities. Back in the lab, we use software to identify and isolate the best songs and calls. These vocalizations have been posted to our website, Farmland Birds of Nebraska, and distributed back to farmers and others interested on CDs. With the acoustic recordings, farmers can select a group of indicator species suitable for their area, learn its call, and listen for the bird while working in the field. This information can be used by the farmer in assessing their own farm or can be shared more broadly with researchers.

The recordings also allow farmers to share with consumers (many of whom are birders) an added environmental benefit of their farm. This spring we were able to take these recorded vocalizations back to one of our participating farms. In partnership with Common Good Farm, we hosted a “Birding on the Farm” tour. Local residents and other farmers spent the morning listening for and identifying the community of birds at the farm. New and experienced birders alike were surprised at the diversity found on the single farm.

In the coming months, we are expanding our network of recorders. This winter we will be monitoring winter bird communities on participating farms and testing the influences that road noise may have on bird vocalization and communication.

While looking for the answers, I found agronomist Bob Shaffer. Shaffer started out as a farmer, but soon realized that he was more interested in the soil than in what grew out of it. That led to a career in making and applying compost. He now works with Recology, the company that composts San Francisco's green waste, at their composting facility in Vacaville and with farmers who want to improve their crops.

One of Shaffer’s clients is Old Hill Ranch in Glen Ellen. As the name suggests, the vineyard is one of the earliest in Sonoma County and has many 100-year-old vines.

When Old Hill was first established, it was planted in the traditional way – a lot of different grape varietals were planted, producing a blended wine. The vineyard has a colorful map that identifies the patchwork of varietals on the property.

The vines are dry farmed, with no irrigation system running between the vine rows. This makes adding compost really important, as it helps with water retention in the soil. Old Hill’s owner, Will Bucklin, is also experimenting with compost tea, in which a small amount of compost is “brewed” into a dark tea to develop beneficial microbes. The tea can be added to a water supply or sprayed onto the leaves directly. It’s another way of making nutrients and protective microbes available to the plant.

Tiny young grapes on a vine at Old Hill Ranch, in Glen Ellen. Photo: Kate Szrom.

When QUEST visited Old Hill Ranch, it was a hot, sunny June day. There had just been a full moon and the blooms on the vines had set into tiny green grapes.

As he does in the summer season, Shaffer checked to see if the vines were getting water and nutrients by observing the leaves and tendrils on the vines. He pointed out some of the cover crops he has planted to prevent soil erosion. Through their roots, cover crops like grasses and legumes can also carry carbon deeper into the soil than compost alone would.

In the fall, compost will be applied at Old Hill and on other vineyards like it. Over the winter, rains will help spread the nutrients and beneficial microbes in the compost through the ground to be made available for next year’s growing season.

The Mexican free-tailed bats living beneath the Yolo Causeway, a three-mile bridge near Davis, make up the largest colony of bats in the Central Valley and most likely one of the biggest in California, said Corky Quirk, education associate with the Yolo Basin Foundation.

Corky Quirk helps QUEST producer Gabriela Quiros prepare to film the bat flyout at the Yolo Causeway.
Photo: Amanda Stupi

The Yolo Causeway carries highway 80 traffic over the Yolo Bypass, a flood-control structure that protects Sacramento, West Sacramento and nearby communities from the Sacramento River’s rising waters during the winter.

The bats fly out from under the bridge each evening from two locations. Between June and August, Quirk takes groups of visitors to watch a large group of the bats fly out in the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, which is managed by the state’s Department of Fish and Game. This year’s bat tours sold out after the Sacramento Bee published a story.

Bats fly out over the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, in Davis.
Photo: Corky Quirk

But you can watch a slightly smaller group of bats fly out shortly before sunset from the causeway’s bike trail, on the bridge’s west end. Quirk recommends parking on the northwest side of the causeway and walking up onto the levee to reach the bike trail. The bats fly from under the causeway near the levee on the north side.

Scientists don’t know where these bats spend the rest of the year, although they suspect that some of them remain at the causeway and that others live under nearby Central Valley bridges and in the Bay Area. In another QUEST video I produced, bat scientists counted 16,000 Mexican free-tailed bats spending the winter under a small bridge in the town of Galt, 20 miles south of Sacramento.

The bats start to arrive at the causeway in May and make themselves at home in the bridge’s exposition joints, crevices that are one inch wide and 12 inches deep and allow the cement structure to contract and expand.

“In our area we don’t have caves, which would be the normal habitat for this particular species,” said Quirk. “But they’ve adapted to live in the structures that the humans have ended up providing.”

Mexican free-tailed bats have adapted to living under bridges instead of in caves. Photo: Kate Szrom

Mexican free-tailed bats are one of around 16 species of bats in the Bay Area, said Dave Johnston, a wildlife ecologist and an officer of the Western Bat Working Group. While this species is doing well, other Bay Area bats such as the long-eared myotis, the Townsend’s big-eared bat and the pallid bat, aren’t as numerous as they once were.

“What we’re learning is that more and more of these species are more sensitive to urbanization than we previously thought,” said Johnston. “Habitat fragmentation and habitat loss are probably the big suspects.”

And a disease called white-nose syndrome has killed more than one million bats in the eastern United States since it was introduced to New York state in 2006, likely from Europe. The fungal disease attacks bats hibernating in caves and causes them to develop what looks like frost on their snouts and chins.

The disease is expected to reach California, but Johnston said it’s not clear how it might impact the state’s bats.

“Our bats typically do not go into the deep torpor or deep hibernation when this fungus does its worst effect,” said Johnston. “So that’s a wild card out there.”

Adult Mexican free-tailed bats weigh about half an ounce and are three inches long. Their 10-inch wingspan makes them look bigger when they’re flying, which they do at speeds of about 50 miles per hour. Under the causeway, they chatter away in high-pitched, bird-like chirps. But when they exit the bridge at sunset, Quirk holds up a phone-sized machine called a bat detector to hear the high-frequency sounds that help the bats locate their prey. Without the bat detector, these sounds aren’t audible to humans.

In California’s Central Valley, Mexican free-tailed bats feed on the moths and moth larvae that attack corn and tomatoes. In Texas, where they’re also known as Brazilian free-tailed bats, they protect the cotton crops and reduce the cost of pesticides for cotton farmers.

“When they’re pregnant or nursing, they’re going to eat about the equivalent of their weight in insects each night,” said Quirk. “They’re very, very important for our pest control.”

Four-day-old bat pup. Photo: Kate Szrom

Each female gives birth to a single pup once a year. The pups, which are born translucent and furless, are large, compared to their mothers.

“I think of it as a human mother giving birth to a kindergartner,” said Quirk. Around July 1, Quirk starts to look for tiny bat placentas and umbilical cords that have fallen to the ground under the bridge – a sign that the bats have given birth.

Because nursing bats need to eat so many insects, once they give birth they fly in thicker groups than during their pregnancy. They fly out from under the bridge in a long, twirling line that Quirk describes as a “ribbon.” Each night, three or four ribbons are visible from the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area.

“I like that they’re so different than their reputation,” said Quirk as she watched a flyout in July. “I like that they’re actually very calm animals for the most part, that they’re hunting insects and not interested in us.”

Applying herbicides to crops helps increase yield—but at a cost. Photo: tpmartins.

Recent headlines have brought to light some of herbicides’ unintended effects. The herbicide Imprelis, primarily used on golf courses and the like, has been linked to the death of conifers throughout the east and the midwest. The safety of the widely used herbicide Roundup has also been called into question. Herbicides can provide farmers and gardeners with advantages over unwanted weeds—but they also come with drawbacks.

When DuPont first introduced the herbicide Imprelis in 2010, it was seen as a pretty environmentally friendly option. It is really effective at preventing the growth of weeds like dandelions and ivy. It affects plants’ hormone receptors, and it works at low concentrations. Unlike other herbicides, hot temperatures or rainfall just after application do not make Imprelis ineffective—a benefit for lawn care professionals, who otherwise have to time the application of herbicides according to the weather report. But Imprelis doesn’t bind to the soil and can leach into groundwater, two reasons why the state of New York has not approved it. (California has not approved it either.) Because of these characteristics, the herbicide being taken up by nearby trees through their root systems. As a result, conifers’ needles turn brown, and some trees die. The chemicals in Imprelis stick around in the grass clippings, creating killer compost that should go to the landfill rather than the compost bin or mulch pile. We haven’t heard the end of the story of Imprelis.

We will likely also hear more about Roundup, a big player manufactured by Monsanto. This story in the Huffington Post describes several studies that indicate that the herbicide causes birth defects. Roundup and other similar herbicides contain glyphosate, which causes reproductive problems in adult animals and birth defects in animals’ offspring. Organisms like rabbits can be exposed when herbicides are applied and when they eat the plants that have been treated. Lab studies have shown that exposure to glyphosate results in malformations in frog and chicken embryos. And, lab studies show that Roundup also poses problems for human embryonic and placental cells. Herbicides that contain glyphosate are hugely popular, because they’re so effective. In the last year for which data are available, 2006-2007, the US agricultural industry applied 180 to 185 million pounds of glyphosate. From 2005 to 2007, non-agricultural use added another 8 to 11 million pounds to the ecosystem. This chemical is increasingly ingrained in the US agricultural system: farmers purchase genetically modified seeds that are resistant to Roundup (such as Roundup Ready Soybeans), and then spray Roundup on the crops. These methods allow for much higher crop yields than organic agriculture, and are cost-effective for big farms. Without the advantages that herbicides provide, farms cannot compete.

Eradicating weeds is a challenge, and herbicides are a big part of fighting that battle. We have a complex relationship with weeds—check out this great conversation about weeds on Science Friday last week. Herbicides give us some key advantages over unwanted weeds. These advantages come with drawbacks. The two herbicides under question are primarily used by industry—lawn care professionals and big ag farmers—rather than individuals. But the average citizen uses herbicides on his or her home lawn, too. Do you use herbicides? Why or why not?

Almond shells at the West Biofuels biomass test plant in Woodland, California.

When you think of where energy comes from, you might picture a power plant or maybe wind mills. You probably wouldn't think of a pile of 12 tons of almond shells.

California is hungry for renewable energy. Solar and wind power have taken off thanks to the state's ambitious clean energy goals. But there's another way to generate electricity — by using organic material like agricultural and tree waste. It's known as biomass power.

Matt Summers is an engineer with West Biofuels at their test power plant near Sacramento. California, by the way, is the world leader in growing almonds.

"So we've got more almond shells than anybody else. And you know, we know some companies that handle almond shells and they're always looking for somewhere to take them," says Summers.

Listen to the QUEST radio story How Green Is Biomass Energy?

But where some see a waste product, Summers sees an energy source.

"So this is the heart of the West Biofuels process," he says, pointing to a tower of industrial equipment that turns almond shells into electricity. First, the waste, or biomass, is fed into a reactor.

"We call it reforming, so we're re-forming what's biomass, what's almond shells into smaller particles that are gases," says Summers, describing their gasification technology.

The gas that's produced is a lot like natural gas, so it goes to an advanced generator where it's burned to produce electricity.

But this is where biomass is different from other renewables. The generator produces air pollution, unlike, say, a solar farm. So Summers and his team use pollution control technology to meet California's air quality standards.

Still, despite the emissions from biomass plants, many say there are big benefits to using waste as an energy source.

"Waste is pretty green," says Jim Boyd, a member of the California Energy Commission. "There's enough material out there to make thousands of megawatts of electricity."

Matt Summers of West Biofuels stands next to their fuel source.

There are a lot of unused energy sources out there, Boyd says, like construction debris and orchard cuttings. Biomass energy also has one big advantage over other renewables – reliability. Wind and solar power are variable since the sun and wind aren't available all the time.

"And instead of just thinking about building more natural gas plants to fill the void, we could utilize biomass plants because they are seven by 24 once you get them up and running," says Boyd.

But while other renewables are booming, biomass is on the decline in California. After dozens of plants were built in the 1980s, today, only a handful of new plants are being proposed. In 2009, biomass provided about two percent of the state's electricity.

"There's a great infatuation with wind and solar and very rare references to biomass and some of us are trying to turn that around a little bit," Boyd says.

One problem is simply cost. Biomass facilities need tons and tons of material and trucking it in from around the state isn't very economical.

The other issue gets back to the concern of whether biomass energy is really as green as supporters say. There's the problem of greenhouse gas emissions from biomass plants. Another controversy is over one particular fuel source: trees.

All those years of Smokey Bear and fire suppression in California have created very dense forests – which are at high risk for fires. Both private and public land managers have been trying to reduce that fuel load.

"In a lot of cases you'd do thinning operation where you take out some of the trees, usually the smaller trees, the less valuable trees," says Bill Stewart, a forestry specialist at the University of California – Berkeley.

Stewart says most of the material removed from forests is either burned or left to decay. So there's a lot of interest in using forestry waste in biomass plants.

But Debbie Hammel of the Natural Resources Defense Council says, "I think if you're talking about waste, it's important to define what you mean."

"If you take too much of that residue out of the forest, you're going to have an impact on the forest floor, the fertility of the soil, erosion and potentially wildlife habitat."

Hammel says there's a major debate over how much thinning is good for a forest. So, she worries that a larger biomass industry would create incentives to over-harvest forests. That's why Hammel says not all biomass is equal – and why waste like almond shells should be used before forest cuttings.

"There is a role for biomass done right, but it's a smaller role I think than some people imagine," says Hammel.

Looking ahead, Hammel says the next thorny issue is calculating the greenhouse gas emissions from biomass plants, which can be tricky since the fuels come from a number of sources. That's something the federal Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing now.

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Under Governor Jerry Brown's proposed budget, state funding for the Williamson Act would be eliminated. Photo Credit: Jennifer Rusk

After plenty of winter rain, the hills of the Yolo Land and Cattle Company are especially green this year. That's a good thing, says owner Casey Stone, when you're raising grass-fed cattle.

"We've become more grass farmers than cow farmers. You gotta manage the whole resource and whole package," says Stone.

Stone and I are driving through his 7500-acre ranch in Yolo County, about 30 miles west of Sacramento. "These are some of our fall calvers out here," he says, pointing to just a few of his 700 Black Angus cattle, who, right now have fuzzy winter coats.

"There have only been a few families that have owned this ranch over the years since it was homesteaded back in the 1860s," he says. Stone's father started their cattle operation in the 1970s and he took advantage of the Williamson Act.

Listen to the QUEST radio story Land Preservation on the Chopping Block

Here's how it works: in exchange for agreeing not to develop their land, the Stones pay lower property taxes on their ranch. The program was created in 1965 to preserve open space in California. Today, it covers more than half of the state's farm and ranchland.

Under Governor Jerry Brown's proposed budget, state funding for the Williamson Act would be eliminated. "I think people have taken it for granted up until recently cause it's always been something that's out there," says Stone.

Stone says the program helps keep many ranchers afloat, given the volatile cattle market. "It's a very cyclical business. Eight years ago we were down in the dumps." Without the program, Stone expects his property taxes to jump 38 percent on the ranch. For his neighbors, he says, it could be higher and that creates pressure to subdivide the land. "In this type of area, everyone wants a ranchette in the country."

John Young, Yolo County Agricultural Commissioner, agrees. "The ranchers are gonna by far be hit the hardest here. The pressure on them is going to be to cut this acreage apart and start to sell it off chunk by chunk."

There may not be much development pressure today, but Young expects it to come back as the economy rebounds. And since ranchers need a lot of land to raise cattle, higher taxes will hit them hard. "Most farmers can't afford to pay those kind of taxes when it takes 40 acres for one cow/calf pair."

Counties will also be in a tight spot, if the legislature passes Brown's budget. Since counties collect lower property taxes under the program, the state usually reimburses them for the lost funds. In Yolo County, that's supposed to be 1.3 million dollars a year.

Of course, these days, all of California is facing some tough cuts, as Governor Brown said a few weeks ago. "Do I like the choices we face? No, I don't like them. But after serious study of the options left by a 25 billion dollar deficit, the budget I proposed is the best that I can devise," he said in the State of the State address.

John Young says it would fall to the counties to decide if they can continue the conservation program without state support. "Williamson Act is one of the best land conservation acts that's ever existed anywhere. So really this is a statewide issue. It shouldn't be on each individual county to decide that."

But the Williamson Act isn't just something that ranchers care about. On Howard Ranch, a 12,000-acre cattle ranch in eastern Sacramento County, Jaymee Marty is standing next to what looks like a small pond. Marty is an ecologist with the Nature Conservancy.

"A vernal pool is basically a season wetland and this is sort of a little hotspot of native diversity," she says.

These small wetlands may not seem like much, but every spring, they only appear in California's grasslands. By summer, they're completely dried up. "So you have you know hundreds of plant species that are found nowhere else in the world except in California in vernal pools." They're also home to species like ferry shrimp and tiger salamanders.

Two different vernal pools in Jaymee Marty's research. On the left is a pool that's been fenced off from cattle, while the pool on the right was left open. The fenced pool is choked with thatch and invasive weeds like Medusahead. Cattle have kept those plants down in the open pool, which Marty says is a more productive environment for tiger salamanders and other species that depend on these seasonal pools. Photos: Jaymee Marty and Jennifer Buck.

Ten years ago, Marty began a study to see if cattle were harming these tiny communities. "I thought that I was going to find that some species were really going to lose out in a grazed grassland."

Instead, Marty found that cattle help create a better environment for vernal pools. There are types of grazing that are not good for the ecosystem, says Marty, but studies have shown that rangeland is an important habitat for raptors and other wildlife.

That's why the loss of more than 500,000 acres of California ranchland over the last quarter century is a concern. "It's pretty shocking. Some counties have a lot more loss than others."

And that, says Marty, is where the Williamson Act comes in. "Really the only reason that this grassland is in existence today is because it has been ranched, because people have been able to make a living off of it."

That's why she sees the Williamson Act as an important conservation tool in California. But in Sacramento, the act is competing with schools and health care for limited funding. Legislators are now holding budget hearings that will decide the future of the program.

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Hayes Valley Farm blooms in an abandoned concrete space; it is a 2.2 acre non-profit community run farm and urban agriculture education and research project.

I live in Hayes Valley and there has been a transformation a few blocks down from where I live. The square surrounded by the streets of Oak, Octavia, Fell and Laguna used to be an ugly site. It has been a closed overpass since traffic was diverted to Octavia Boulevard. Now, Hayes Valley Farm blooms in this once abandoned concrete space – it is a 2.2 acre non-profit community run farm and urban agriculture education and research project that was given funding by the city and the San Francisco Parks Trust. It opened its gates to the community on January 24, 2010. It is open to the public and volunteers on Thursdays and Sundays.

The mission of Hayes Valley Farm, as stated on their website, “is to serve as a community and agricultural hub encouraging San Francisco residents to connect with one another, grow their own food, and learn about sustainable ecological systems.” Using a system of permaculture, the farm uses strategies for urban farming such as “using minimal inputs, upcycling local waste, replenishing the landscape, and maximizing community involvement and resources.” For example, the first thing done at the farm was to revitalize the soil through sheet mulching. “Sheet-mulching is a technique to build new, fertile soil. Cardboard is laid down to cover ivy and weeds and suppress their growth. It also prevents soil disturbance, absorbs water, and retains moisture”. After the cardboard is laid down, volunteers and farm staff add layers of manure and mulch three to four feet deep. Fava beans and clover are then planted to fix nitrogren in the soil which in turn balances out the carbon rich cardboard and mulch. The manure and mulch then transform into new rich soil that breaks down the cardboard.

Planting the Fava bean and clovers waere just the first step in the growing cycle at Hayes Valley Farm. Now produce such as squash, leafy greens, potatoes, and herbs are being grown. All the varieties of produce being planted grow well is San Francisco’s cool coastal climate.

As a community organization, Hayes Valley Farm is asking the community for support. Their starting grant and funding has gotten them this far but they are now trying to raise $20,600 by Sunday, November 14 as a party of a Kickstarter campaign. They have already raised $12,112. Money for the campaign goes to the following: bringing in urban kids for the day to the farm to learn where there food is coming from and introduce them to organic produce, pay for volunteer coordinators that facilitate between 50 to 100 community volunteers, and purchasing needed material and supplies for maintaining the farm.

Since opening the gates, volunteers and community participants have volunteered over 16,000 hours and 800 cubic yards of organic material and 88,000 pounds of cardboard has been diverted from landfill and instead been transformed into fertile soil in a beautiful farm in the middle of San Francisco. If you would like to keep this wonderful farm going you can make a donation on their website or learn about how to get involved by visiting www.hayesvalleyfarm.com/visit.html.

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Seed saving is a technique that stretches to the very beginning of human agriculture.

As the summer growing season winds down, most backyard gardeners are harvesting the last few cherry tomatoes and basil leaves out of their gardens. Seeds, on the other hand, are something few gardeners gather anymore.

Seed saving is a technique that stretches to the very beginning of human agriculture.  Farmers select their best crops, save the seeds and use them for the next growing season.  Today, most backyard gardeners opt for buying seed packets or seedlings at the garden store.  But a handful of Bay Area groups are working to create local seed saving networks, where local gardeners can learn to save seeds and share them. The idea is that, over time, the projects will develop plants that are specially suited for the Bay Area's unique microclimates.

Of course, seed saving isn't quite as simple as it seems.  With plants like bean and tomatoes that largely self-pollinate, the seeds you save will most likely look their their parents. Other plants are a little more promiscuous. If you grow several kinds of squash, for example, or your neighbor is growing a different kind of squash, a few insects can cross-pollinate those plants. Those seed may sprout something surprising next year.

Mat Rogers of the Backyard Seed Vault recommends keeping it simple: start with plants that have easily saved seeds and work your way up. And don't forget that gardening is always an experiment.  Here are a few local resources:

The Backyard Seed Vault's list of seed saving resources.

Richmond Grow Seed Lending Library's list of easy and difficult seeds

The Bay Area Seed Interchange Library in Berkeley

Other local seed libraries

The Seed Savers Exchange, a national network

Listen to the Backyard Seed Banks radio report online.

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Editor's Note: This week we have the first of two special reports on pesticide drift.

In this week's Quest radio piece, I talk to two pregnant organic onion workers who got sick after an apple farmer sprayed pesticides on a nearby orchard. Following a nearly three month investigation, the Kern County Ag Commissioner issued citations finding both the apple grower and the organic company at fault (see the citations here and here). Workers told me that even after the drift started, the organic farm's supervisor encouraged them to keep bunching onions, telling them to put handkerchiefs over their mouths to block out the smell of the insecticides.

Whenever a big pesticide drift accident like this happens, it raises important questions: How often do these kinds of incidents occur? Are things getting better for people in communities near where pesticides are sprayed?

That's hard to tell, because of the way the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) and County Ag Commissioners keep track of the data. There's no single enforcement code to categorize incidents as "agricultural drift affecting humans."

DPR does keep a statewide database of acute illness related to pesticides, as documented in worker’s comp or physician's records. Pesticide activists say those numbers are low, because many victims don't see a doctor. And doctors don't always know how to recognize symptoms of pesticide illness, or that they are supposed to report those cases.

And here's another twist: back in 2000, DPR changed its criteria for how it evaluates pesticide illness. So you can't compare the number of incidents from the 1990s with incidents today. All that makes it very difficult to determine if growers and regulators are really doing a better job keeping the public safe from chemicals drifting off the farm, especially after the passage of bills like the 2004 law sponsored by State Senator Dean Florez.

While that law clarified rules for emergency responders and required growers to pay medical bills for uninsured victims, it doesn't seem to have led to a dramatic drop in pesticide drift incidents.

In 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have sped up pesticide drift investigations and increased penalties. Instead, he directed DPR to streamline the enforcement guidelines for counties. Ag Commissioners can now issue a maximum fine of 5,000 dollars for each person sickened by pesticide drift.

That's a penalty some advocates, like Californians for Pesticide Reform think is far too low to act as a deterrent.

Meanwhile, County Ag Commissioners are facing budget cutbacks that may shrink their enforcement teams. Many agriculture commissioners already have just six or seven pesticide enforcement inspectors to police thousands of farms.

The Department of Pesticide Regulation says it can't enforce the law unless drift incidents are reported. The department has launched a new campaign to educate fieldworkers about pesticide drift, printing up wallet-sized cards with a toll-free hotline number in English and Spanish.

Listen to the Catching the Drift radio report online.

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