Richard Waycott: We’re working hard to kick up a lot less dust

Re “I love almonds, but not the dust” (Letters, Sept. 25): Almond farmers recognize that industry growth must be matched by an unprecedented commitment to sustainability and continuous improvement. As such, when it comes to how we harvest and impacts on air quality, we’ve heard the concerns from Virginia Vaz and others and we also are not satisfied with the status quo.

Right now, we are working with farmers to fine-tune harvest practices and adopt low-dust equipment that can result in significant improvements in the short term.

But we aren’t stopping there. Through Almond Board of California, the industry is re-envisioning its approach to harvesting, accelerating research that will result in cleaner air for all who live in the Central Valley. Some areas we’re investigating include changing the structure and layout of our almond orchards to implement techniques similar to those used to harvest pistachios or grapes. We are doing our due diligence to ensure these changes can have both a positive environmental impact and are viable for farmers. The almond industry is backed by 40 years of research with a proven track record of continuous improvement, so we look forward to sharing our progress as we aim to make improvements for farmers, families and our communities.

This story was originally published October 4, 2017 at 12:26 PM with the headline "Richard Waycott: We’re working hard to kick up a lot less dust."