Waking up with a drippy nose and a dry, sore throat is the worst. You may wonder why these symptoms come. In the Central Valley, the most likely reason is almond farming. The central valley is the main producer of almonds and other agriculture for the entire world.

Coming from the largest agricultural producers in the world we get the consequences. Even though produce is less expensive, our air is more contaminated and our noses are running,

The almond farming process works by shaking the almond trees which releases fine particulate matter, meaning small pieces of dust. After getting a car washed, you can see a layer of dust acros the car. This is a product of almond farming. If an entire car can get dirty in one day, think about what can happen to your lungs.  

The almond farming market is saturated because of new health crazes and people replacing lactose with substitutes such as almonds, pecans and pistachios. Since almond farmers are making bank, everywhere you look you can see orchards. More orchards equal more dust.

Even though the dust can be overwhelming there are ways to combat it. Make sure to blow your nose.

Please don’t be the person who is aggressively sniffing up their mucus. Go outside of the classroom or area and blow your nose, you’ll feel way better after.

Another option is to use a neti pot and clean out your sinuses with saline. A neti pot is a quick agony to result in the ability to breathe. I am not responsible for your trauma.

Drinking tea with local honey can cure a sore throat. It works like a vaccine sort of, ingesting pollen. Local honey can prepare your body for allergies. Honey isn’t proven to work scientifically, but whenever I use it it clears up my sinus and soothes my dry throat.

If the natural route doesn’t work for you, you can invest in a good allergy medicine. Make sure to check the side effects and ingredients before taking.

Most likely pollen is the reason for your allergies and if you don’t like any of these remedies you can get a vaccination. Allergy shots are called immunotherapy, meaning that they work from the inside. A dead version of the virus or allergen is injected and prepares your body to fight more aggressive versions.

So what can farmers do about this you may ask. Farmers would pick more calm days out, ones without as much wind to plow. With less wind, less dust will fly into the air.

Farmers could also covers up soil and put trees around the farm to make sure it doesn’t blow everywhere. Living in the central valley all the dust stays in the air but in Bakersfield or Los Angeles the air is way worse.

It’s not right to scapegoat one group of people. Our farmers are the main producers for the world so we can’t be mad at them. Even though these almond farmers are killing my sinuses, they also are the reason that i don’t have to drink real milk.