Conditional Rice Straw Burning Program
Since 2000, the rice industry has been evaluating disease levels in rice fields to "approve" individual fields for burning. What was determined was that virtually all rice fields have disease levels sufficient to justify burning. Therefore, working with the State Air Resources Board and local agricultural commissions, the program implementation has been streamlined in recent years. The last round of annual inspections will occur in 2004. Beyond this, the prevalence of disease will be confirmed by agricultural commissions every five years.
