Re: your May 1 article, "Despite progress, air quality still poor":

The American Lung Association gave Ventura County an F grade for its smog levels.

The day before, April 30, The Star had an article, "Fumigant limits to begin on Thursday," about the federal mandate that local farmers reduce their use of crop fumigants that cause smog and have helped earn us our F rating. The Star reports that Rob Roy, president of the Ventura County Agricultural Association, said his clients will focus on the lawsuit that seeks to reverse the regulation.

Local growers knew for years regulations would require them to reduce the use of these polluting chemicals to 20 percent of 1991 levels, but increased fumigant use instead. Now, they claim agriculture won't survive without them. Growers want to use enough fumigants to put 2.5 million pounds of volatile organic compounds into our air this year. That is just from fumigant pesticides.

In the past couple of months, there have been articles about air pollution and how the Air Pollution Control District has worked diligently to reduce air pollution. It's my understanding that major smog contributors such as the port, aircraft and agriculture are outside the scope of APCD. Without some pollution reduction from those sectors, Ventura County may never get our smog problem under control.

An article in The Star's Business section March 23, "Getting in a stink over higher fertilizer prices," was about how a 100 percent price increase in fertilizer prices is hitting growers. One reason stated was soaring oil costs — something we are all feeling the impact of now. Years ago, reports showed the cost of oil affects farmers the most in the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, more than fueling trucks and tractors farmers rely on. With oil prices increasing, farmers can expect chemical inputs to increase.

I want to suggest that, instead of spending their money on lawsuits fighting sensible regulations, Roy and the Ventura Agricultural Association use their wealth and influence to support research that will help growers transition away from dependence on air polluting petrochemical products. Oil prices probably aren't going down and demand for organic products is increasing. Growers will have to change to prosper. Fighting to maintain oil-dependent, polluting agricultural production is a losing battle.

We can make better consumer choices to encourage growers to farm without harming our air quality. Conventional strawberry production accounts for the highest use of smog-forming fumigants and other polluting pesticides. Paying homage to this fruit with an annual festival and driving cars to get there is a celebration of pollution. To get better air quality and get rid of that F grade, we all need to change.

— Deborah Bechtel lives in Camarillo.