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cated paperwork to comply and must do the work themselves. Comparing state and federal regulato- ry costs for Central Coast growers in 10 years, she cited two economic studies by Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo—one in 2008 and the other in 2018. “We were not sur- prised to find the costs had increased,” she said. “The regulatory costs for a mid-sized California produce grower on the Central Coast had increased by 795%.” Douglass expressed her love of farm- ing in California. But she said economic and regulatory pressures that farmers and ranchers face have motivated some agri- cultural businesses to leave the state at a rate higher than the national average. “We grow great crops here, and we can do a great job and provide safe, healthy
and wholesome food to this whole coun- try,” Douglass said. “But we have to have an environment where our farmers can thrive, because if our farmers cannot be financially sustainable and they can’t pass the farm onto the next generation, then we don’t have that opportunity.” During her remarks, Henderson said DPR is focusing on protecting health, communities and the environment, while also maintaining a productive agricultural sector. To manage pests ef- fectively and sustainably and have com- munities thriving, Henderson said, “all of these have to work together.” Terry Kippley, president of the Council of Producers and Distributors of Agrotechnology, based in Arlington, Virginia, said the council is hopeful that resources and other proposed efficiencies coming to DPR will significantly improve the backlog of registering new tools. “We need predictable and sci- ence-based regulatory decisions if we are going to meet the moral imperative of feed- ing a growing global population while also ensuring we have a vibrant and sustainable agricultural industry,” Kippley said. Developing and approving new pesti- cides is time-consuming and expensive for registrants, often requiring years and hun- dreds of millions of dollars before a prod- uct can be brought to market, according to Christopher Reardon, government affairs director for the California Farm Bureau. In addition, government approval of new pest management materials for use by agriculture is often delayed due to regu- latory and legal challenges, he added. “There are new materials that our friends in the cotton industry are inter- ested in getting into the marketplace, and growers on the Central Coast are con- cerned about cancellation of an herbicide used in broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage,” Reardon said. “Long term, what are they going to be able to use? What is the indus- try going to do without a replacement?” With more crop protection materials
declining in efficacy as pests and diseases develop resistance, Henderson said DPR and stakeholders must collaborate to identify new materials to register for use in the state. “We need to look into the future, so that as new risks are identified, we’re able to have other tools and practices in their place and ensure that growers and urban pest managers have really effective toolkits to be able to manage pests,” Henderson said. “We know that if there are no alternatives to take the place of something that is off the market, that is extremely challenging.” For a more streamlined product regis- tration process, Henderson said DPR is moving from a paper-based system to one that’s electronic through the California Pesticides Electronic Submission Tracking System, or CalPEST. In addition, in early 2025, DPR is launching a first-of-its-kind pesticide application notification system to provide advance information on ap- plications of restricted pesticides used in agriculture. This includes an online map of planned applications created with data from the notices of intent that farmers sub- mit to county agricultural commissioners before applying pesticides. Farm groups have expressed concerns that the system would trigger appeals from activists to cancel restricted-use pesticide permits. In a time of significant changes at DPR, Emily Saad, senior managing sci- entist at Exponent, a Sacramento-based engineering and consulting firm, said this presents “a significant opportunity for collaboration.” “As we look forward,” Saad said, “I think we can see additional opportunities for collaboration to ensure that California growers have access to the tools that they need to ensure food security and battle pests amidst a changing climate and very significantly altered resource demands.” (Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)
a diversified Glenn County farmer based in Orland. “Right now, the only profit- able thing on our farm is the livestock. Otherwise, most of our crops we are pro- ducing at minimal margins.” For some commodities, the price farm- ers earn is below the cost of production, including for walnuts, she said. “We are losing money to keep our wal- nuts alive right now and hoping that we maintain them just enough so that hope- fully prices improve and markets get better in the next few years,” Douglass said. Farmers have a challenging time nav- igating layers of regulations in the state, Douglass said, noting that small and mid-sized farmers cannot afford to hire outside consultants to complete compli-
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Guidelines available to slow branched broomrape spread
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ommend are removing loose debris with compressed air, scrapers and pressure washing before cleaning equipment with quaternary ammonium compounds. QAC sanitizers effectively kill branched broom- rape and significantly reduce microbial loads. Hanson and Swett said a solution of at least 1% is necessary for efficacy. Hanson has partnered with research- ers in Chile, where branched broomrape is widespread, in studying impacts of the weed, which is a quarantine pest of con- cern for the Golden State. “California doesn’t yet have yield-reduc- ing levels of broomrape, and we don’t want them,” Hanson said. Additional information on branched broomrape in processing tomatoes may be found at www.tomatonet.org/research.
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have created best man- agement practices for slowing the spread of a parasitic weed that can lead to yield losses in processing tomatoes. Branched broomrape, which attaches to roots of tomato and other host plants and absorbs nutrients and water, doesn’t have many effective in-season options for man- agement and is difficult to eradicate once it’s established. Weed seeds can be carried from field to field by wind, water, soil trans- fers and contaminated farm equipment. Brad Hanson and Cassandra Swett, weed and fungal pathology specialists at UC Davis, are jointly researching meth- ods for equipment sanitation to reduce the spread. They discussed remedies at a field day earlier this year. Among the steps Hanson and Swett rec-
12 Ag Alert August 14, 2024
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