In a win for the company behind Cuties mandarins, Kern County agricultural officials slashed the fines for a pesticide drift incident that sickened dozens of farmworkers last year.
Farmworker advocates pushed a bill earlier this year that would have increased fines for violating California’s pesticide regulations, but the bill was defeated amid fierce opposition from industry groups.
There were four separate pesticide drift incidents in Central California in 2017 that sickened a total of 150 workers.