Some of these farmers are the same morons who expanded their planted acreage by 20% or more AFTER depleting their groundwater to the point where it's too brackish to use.

Then they line the highway with signs blaming politicians for the lack of water. I kid you not.

In Chile you need to do that, otherwise the good earth is blown away in days, and restore it need's years.

Even in "wet" Switzerland you have to plant some special grass to protect the field when it's "resting".

> agricultural burning remains a major contributor to pollution, despite a law banning it in 2003.

There's this:

> It costs about $500 an acre to burn crops, but more than $1,000 an acre to chip and shred them.

> In August 2021, the San Joaquin Valley air district accepted $178 million in new state funding to incentivize alternative methods of managing ag waste, including grants to repurpose dead or abandoned crops into mulch.

I bet a lot of that $178MM went into matches and gasoline.