California is transitioning to more sustainable pest management and the elimination of prioritized, high-risk pesticides by 2050. Details of the effort are outlined in the Accelerating Sustainable Pest Management: A Roadmap for California, released earlier in the year. Director of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, Julie Henderson said biological products will have a role to play in the endeavor. “We’re really looking at high-risk uses of products that can’t be managed effectively and need alternatives. So, biologicals represent a really interesting option for alternatives to high-risk pesticides,” said Henderson.
One of the priority actions highlighted in the Roadmap includes expediting reviews of softer chemicals and biologicals. The concept was referenced by Henderson during the recent Salinas Biological Summit. Henderson said the conference was a good opportunity to learn what the sector could represent moving forward, by “bringing together people from a whole variety of perspectives to focus on how can we bring more of the safer biological practices to the table for using as alternatives to higher-risk pesticides.”
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Brian German
Ag News Director / AgNet West