New California Ag Laws and Progress in Domestic Fertilizer

**A number of new state laws are set to impact California farmers after Governor Gavin Newsom ended the legislative year by signing a flurry of bills.

Assembly Bill 1016 authorizes California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation to modernize the certification process for farmers using drones to spray pesticides and beneficial biological treatments on farms.

Senate Bill 505 was created to improve commercial property insurance options for people who’ve struggled to access coverage due to wildfires.

**Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack highlighted progress made in partnering with farmers and American businesses to increase innovative domestic fertilizer production and making it easier for farmers to grow food through double cropping.

www.agrimarketing.com reports, USDA also announced $52.6 million in awards under the Fertilizer Production Expansion

Program, which will fund 17 new projects to boost domestic fertilizer manufacturing, support innovative fertilizer technologies, and help lower costs for farmers.

www.agrimarketing.com/s/147076

**The USDA has issued over $1.77 billion this year to agricultural producers and landowners through its Conservation Reserve Program.

The program is a critical piece of the Department’s efforts to support climate-smart agriculture and forestry on working lands.

More than 667,000 participants received payments from the Farm Service Agency for their voluntary conservation efforts on more than 23 million acres of private land.