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As Wildfires Rage, Smoke Chokes Out Farmworkers And Delays Some Crops

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On Mike Pink's potato farm at dawn, the sun is an angry red ball low in the sky. This summer, wildfire smoke has blanketed much of the West for days and weeks. And that smoke has come between the sun and ripening crops. Pink watches as his year's work tumbles onto a fast-moving belt and into a waiting semi truck. He's got most of his 1,600-acre potato fields yet to harvest on his 3,000-acre farm, spread over about 40 miles between Burbank and Basin City, Wash. And this thick smoke makes him nervous. "When we're not getting the sunlight like that, the plants aren't growing. They are just kind of sitting there and doing nothing," Pink says. "And every day that goes by, we lose a day of potential growth." Lost sunlight and too much heat means that Pink's french fry potato crops aren't gaining precious tons. He estimates one week of smoke will cost him around $34,000 for just one of his many fields. "A couple hundred dollars or three, four hundred dollars an acre that just goes away might

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