California Air Resources Board

In September 2017, Governor Brown signed into law Assembly Bill (AB) 134 (Committee on Budget, Chapter 254, Statutes of 2017) and AB 109 (Ting, Chapter 249, Statutes of 2017), which appropriated $135 million from the State Budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-18 to the California Air Resources Board (CARB or Board) for reducing criteria, toxic, and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector. In response to this appropriation, CARB developed the Funding Agricultural Replacement Measures for Emission Reductions (FARMER) Program Guidelines (Guidelines), which were approved by the Board in March 2018.

The FARMER Program Guidelines direct funding to local air districts to administer agricultural vehicle and equipment incentive projects, which provide concurrent criteria, toxic, and GHG emission reductions. The FARMER Program Guidelines also describe air district funding allocations, eligible project categories and criteria, program implementation details, justification for these investments, and provide CARB Executive Officer authority to add or modify project categories and criteria as needed.

Since 2018, the Executive Officer, through the authority delegated to them by the Board, authorized updates to the FARMER Program Guidelines three times through Executive Officer memos, adding a total of five new project categories and modifying four of the existing project categories. The changes for 2024 are extensive and comprehensive, thus staff are seeking Board input and approval.

CARB staff have developed 2024 FARMER Program Guidelines that incorporate the previously added and modified project categories into a single comprehensive document that no longer references the Carl Moyer Air Quality Standards Attainment (Carl Moyer) Program. These Guidelines also include administrative requirements and methodology to calculate emission reductions for the FARMER projects. Further, the Guidelines provide additional flexibility to existing project categories, encourage zero-emission vehicle and equipment deployment, provide additional support for small farms, account for efficiency improvements in agricultural equipment, and streamline air district implementation of the program. The Guidelines outline CARB’s plans for expending FARMER Program funds in a manner consistent with the legislative direction from past budget bills, existing statutes, and regulations. The Guidelines describe air district funding allocations, eligible project categories and criteria, program implementation details, and the justification for these investments.