The Funding Agricultural Replacement Measures for Emission Reductions (FARMER) program provides up to 80 percent of funding for agricultural vehicle and equipment replacement and repower projects. Thanks to this program, Jannifer Mytych and Agri‑World Cooperative were approved by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to receive California Climate Investment funds for new tractors to help reduce emissions while maintaining their almond farms. Jannifer is now the new owner of a Tier 3, 2011 John Deere tractor, and Agri‑World Cooperative is the new owner of a Tier 4 final, John Deere tractor.

For off‑road mobile agricultural equipment trade‑up projects, small farmers are eligible to scrap their old, high‑polluting tractors in exchange for a much cleaner, reconditioned, used tractor with minimal out‑of‑pocket costs. The used equipment generally comes from a larger farmer who purchases a new tractor with the cleanest engine technology available.

This project type is designed for people like Jannifer, who needed a newer tractor after she replanted a small almond orchard in 2017. It would have been too costly to purchase a new tractor, so with the assistance of Midland Tractor Company in Madera County she partnered with Agri‑World Cooperative to submit a project application to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District’s off‑road mobile agricultural equipment trade‑up program.

After using her newly refurbished Tier 3 tractor for some time, Jannifer reached out to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to provide positive feedback about the program: “Using this tractor is such a big difference from what we had. I am not driving a smoky leaky tractor that is hard to steer. I do not have any problems pulling anything. It is a total joy! Greatest of all, the project was very seamless and working with this program has been easy. I am glad I had the opportunity to participate.”