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March 18, 2020 01:00 pm

California Loses Up To $1 Billion In Crops Each Year Because of Air Pollution, Study Finds

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Table grapes -- the kind for snacking -- were the most vulnerable among seven crops badly affected by smog, including: wine grapes, strawberries, walnuts, peaches, nectarines, and hay. The crops lost between 2 to 22 percent of their yields as a result of smog. The results show that dirty air comes at a significant economic cost to California, which raked in $50 billion for its agriculture in 2018. Grapes, the hardest hit by pollution, bring in the most money for the state after dairy. Every American's diet could be affected since California produces the most agriculture in the U.S. and supplies two-thirds of the country's fruit and nuts. Some are still losing up to 15 percent of their yields today, the researchers from the University of California at Irvine found in their paper published today in Nature Food. There is some good news -- the state's efforts to limit pollution over the years did seem to boost the perennial crops -- indicating that future efforts to limit pollution can make a difference. Smog, or ground-level ozone pollution, creeps into the pores of the plants and essentially burns the cells that are trying to photosynthesize, Davis explained to The Verge. This type of pollution wreaks more havoc on plants than all other types of air pollutants combined, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It's created when emissions from tailpipes and factories go through a chemical reaction under sunlight. California has some of the worst smog in the nation and is home to 10 of the 25 most polluted cities in the U.S., according to the American Lung Association's annual report. The scientists predict, however, that taking action on climate change will benefit crops -- since curbing pollution from tailpipes cuts down both greenhouse gases and air pollution. Plus, higher temperatures speed up the chemical reactions that create smog.

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