Presenting this past week at the Air Quality and Health Conference, sponsored by the Health Sciences Research Institute and the Department of Public Health at the University of California Merced, Association President/CEO Roger Isom stated “We all need to work together to help support programs like FARMER to keep financial incentives coming to the Valley”.  The two-day conference was held at UC Merced on October 17 and 18, 2024, and according to the Institute was intended to bring together the many people working on air quality across the San Joaquin Valley and California to share current research, discuss new research directions, and discuss what policies, actions, and education are needed to improve air quality and public health.  Attendees included community members and organizations, university and government scientists, policymakers and regulators, and senior leadership from local and state health and environmental agencies.  As expected, environmental justice advocates took the opportunity to attack and criticize the ag industry and lamented that agriculture should be “forced to accept a mandatory replacement tractor rule,” as voiced by one activist.  Isom responded “agriculture is different from other industries in the fact we have no way to pass along the cost due to the world marketplace.  Buyers will simply buy from another country that can supply the product at a cheaper price”.  To which the crowd stated, “we want to see your profits!”  Also maligned was the Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) by activists demanding more action against pesticide applications.  Activists criticized CDPR for not having enough air monitoring stations, misstating facts and poisoning farmworkers.  For a conference designed to bring people together it only served to further the divide.