HANFORD — Kings County farmers and crop-dusters won't be able to apply certain pesticides next summer because of air quality issues, the state Department of Pesticide Regulation said in a written statement Thursday.
The ban applies to Kings, Fresno, Tulare, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties and parts of Kern County.
Included in the May-to-October prohibition are products that contain abamectin, chlorpyrifos, gibberellins or oxyfluorfen. The pesticides are applied to alfalfa, almonds, citrus, cotton, grapes, pistachios and walnuts.
The products release volatile organic compounds, an ingredient in air pollution. Regulators say that emissions of the compounds increased in 2013, triggering the May-October ban for 2015 and 2016.
via Pesticides banned in hot months next year.
