Afternoon Brief, June 20th

Cal/OSHA Safety Board Denies Monarch Tractor Petition to Modify Regulations Regarding Autonomous Tractor Use: Current California safety regulations under the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) written in the 1970s require a human operator to be stationed at the vehicular controls for all self-propelled tractors used in agricultural operations, thus presenting a regulatory roadblock to the use of autonomous, driver optional tractors that are being developed, marketed and trialed for use in California's vineyards and farmlands...