Ag Burning Deadline in California & House Reps Push Back on EATS Act

**Grape growers, facing a January, 2025, deadline to end agricultural burning, say they’re having difficulty getting burn permits from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

Under a 2003 law, open-air burning of orchards and vineyard material within the eight-county district was supposed to be phased out by 2010, provided alternate, less-polluting methods were available, but several biomass plants have closed.

The California Air Resources Board approved extending the deadline to end burning.

**Sixteen members of the House of Representatives pushed back against the Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression, or EATS Act.

The group sent a letter to House Ag Chair Glenn Thompson and Ranking Member David Scott.

Competitive Markets Action president Marty Irby applauds the representatives for taking a stand against the EATS Act that would sell out American agriculture to China.

He says it’s an assault on states’ rights backed by Smithfield, a wholly owned Chinese corporation.

**The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index edged lower to 121.5 in September, the lowest since March 2021.

Dairy prices dropped 2.3%, a ninth consecutive fall.

Meat costs dropped 1%, led by a drop in pork amid weak export demand from China and ample global availabilities.