The California state budget allocated $10 million to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) to begin the development of a statewide notification system that will provide transparent and equitable access to information in advance of pesticide applications and enable the public to make informed decisions about actions they may take to protect their health.
The Santa Cruz County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office has volunteered to partner with DPR to develop a pesticide notification pilot project to inform the design and implementation of the statewide pesticide notification system. Both community members and agricultural growers within the pilot project area are encouraged provide feedback to our office on its implementation.
Pesticide Notification Pilot Community Map
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About the notification pilot
Santa Cruz County’s pilot project includes the Senior Village Community in Watsonville and additional neighboring homes. This part of the Watsonville community was selected due to its proximity to agricultural fields and the potential use of certain restricted material pesticides. This project will allow us to collect feedback from community members and growers on the effectiveness of the notification process and in turn provide this information to DPR as they develop the statewide notification system. In combination with the other participating pilot counties, the information obtained from conducting this pilot program will assist DPR in its development of the Statewide Pesticide Application Notification System, which the agency is currently planning to rollout by 2024 and which would be the first such system in the nation. More information about the development of the statewide system can be found on DPR's website.
The pesticide notification pilot project in Santa Cruz County will extend one mile out from the selected community and cover a diversity of farms, both organic and conventional. This pilot is not intended to provide notification of every pesticide application on agricultural fields within the notification area but will instead focus on notifications for the use of three field soil fumigant pesticides. These are restricted material pesticides that include the active ingredients chloropicrin, 1,3-Dichloropropene (1,3-D), and metam potassium.