SALINAS, Calif. -- Right now our $4 billion agriculture industry is in jeopardy because of the gridlock in Washington. The $87 billion in spending cuts could waste a whopping 200,000 acres of local crops.
Federal spending cuts could make the Salinas Municipal Airport tower shut down.
200,000 acres of land could be left without aerial applicators, which translates to about $5,000 an acre. Add that up and it's a $1 billion hit.
There are 10 helicopters among three aerial applicator companies at the Salinas airport. They spray crops for any infestations during harvest time.
But if the tower closes, there will be limitations on how often they can fly and that means growers could lose out on production.
For aerial applicator Frank Gomes, time is of the essence. He's the first step in a long line of things that have to go right to make sure the Central Coast agriculture industry stays afloat.
Gomes said if the tower closes, his fly schedule will be messed up. Normally he and the other aerial applicators like to fly from 3 to 11 a.m. when they can fly under the fog and the wind isn't up yet.
"We would not be able to work until the weather conditions were above a thousand foot and three miles visibility," he said.
By that time, he said it could be too late to save about hundreds of thousands of crops in the five-mile radius around the airport.
"The conditions that exist here with fog it is ideal for mold and mildew and when those things attack a crop you have about 24 hours to 48 hours to do an application or the crop will be severely damaged or lost completely," Gomes said.
It's why airport manager Brett Godown is writing the FAA asking it to keep the tower open.
"It would slow down the production of the crop and actual harvest times to get the crop out to the stores," said Brett Godown, manager of the Salinas Municipal Airport.
It cost about $600,000 a year to run the tower at the airport.
