California Association of Standards and Agricultural ... - CASAP

California Association of Standards
and Agricultural Professionals
Chris Reardon
Chief Deputy Director
California Department of Pesticide Regulation
January 19, 2013

• 2012-13 budget: $82.9 million
DPR Budget Update
• Gov. Brown’s Government Reorganization
Plan
– Structural Pest Control Board transfer to new Business
and Consumer Services Agency by July 1, 2013 – 30
employees
• $500,000 annually for grants to research
nonfumigant production practices
– First funding cycle is fiscal year 2012-13
– Up to 10 research projects could be funded
annually for up to 3 years
• New grant program is in addition to
Pest Management Grants, which are
$400,000 annually

DPR Budget Highlights
• 2013-14 Proposed Budget: $81.0 million
384.8 positions.
• Staffing: from February 2009 through June 2013,
DPR employees have been subject to unpaid leave
days through furloughs and/or the Personal Leave
Program (PLP), a mandatory one-day-per-month
leave. The current PLP is scheduled to end on June
30, 2013.
• Retirements: 42 employees have retired
from DPR since 2010 and another 180-plus
are eligible to retire in the next five years--
almost half of DPR workforce.
– Environmental Monitoring:
Alfalfa study, Davis.

Existing Situation Requires New Strategies
on Fumigants
• Fumigants are important tool for
farmers
• However, loss of methyl iodide, phase
out of methyl bromide, more
restrictions on other fumigants and
continued development
in urban edge require
urgent action by DPR to
identify and accelerate
development of tools to
control pests without
fumigants

NEW STRATEGIES (continued)
• $500,000 research partnership with California
Strawberry Commission to grow strawberries
in peat or substances other than soil
– 3-year project building on years of research
• 10-member work group of scientists to
develop 5-year action plan by late
fall that identifies practical and
cost-effective ways to grow
strawberries without soil
fumigants

Fumigants Update
• Methyl iodide
– Pulled from U.S. marketplace in March
after six applications in California
– Arysta LifeScience voluntarily canceled
registration in California
• Methyl bromide
• Chloropicrin
• U.S. EPA safety
measures

Enforcement Issues
• New surface water regulations, effective July
19
– Limit amount of pesticides used and where they
can be applied by structural pest control
businesses and maintenance gardeners
• Central Coast chlorpyrifos mitigation effort
• Proposed regulations targeting volatile
organic compound (VOC) emissions from
nonfumigant pesticides in San Joaquin Valley
– Fresno, Kings, Madera,
Merced, San Joaquin,
Stanislaus and Tulare
counties and part of
Kern

Air Monitoring Network Update
• Launched in February 2011 in:
– Shafter (Kern County); Salinas
(Monterey County); and Ripon (San
Joaquin County)
• Sampling ambient air
for nearly three dozen pesticides
next 3 to 5 years
• Pesticides selected based
on amount of use and
potential health risks
• First-year results will be released
tomorrow

Other Key Issues
• Chlorpyrifos
– U.S. EPA’s draft risk assessment
– DPR also working on a risk assessment
and coordinating with U.S. EPA
– Significant label restrictions expected
• Pyrethroid reevaluation
– Pyrethroid Working
Group developing
California-specific
data

Other Key Issues
• Rodenticides update
– DPR reevaluating rodenticides containing
brodifacoum in response to state
Department of Fish and Game concerns
that wildlife is being adversely affected
• Pollinator health
– DPR very concerned
about pollinator health
and is working with U.S.
EPA and other states to
address colony collapse
disorder and declining
health of pollinators
related to multiple factors

Western Plant Health Association
Questions?
Also check out our website:
www.cdpr.ca.gov