May June 2023 - 18

BIOCONTROLS
Salinas Biological
Precision ag tools will
help in the transition
period as growers
decrease pesticides
Summi
BY CHRIS KOGER
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
A
t
mong growers who rely on chemical inputs to
ensure their crops aren't lost to voracious insects or
overgrown with weeds, it's not a surprise that they're
not going to be able to rely on those chemicals - some that
have been in use in fields and orchards across the U.S. for
decades - in the coming decades.
Whether regulations, consumer activism, pest and disease
resistance or the growing sustainability movement in
agriculture, the issue of crop inputs is getting more attention.
In the U.S., the focus on chemicals in agriculture is the greatest
in California, which in January released the Roadmap to
2050. That plan mandates the elimination of certain " priority
pesticides " and making sustainable pest management practices
the " de facto " method throughout the state to treat pests,
disease and weeds for all crops.
The document is a collaboration from the California
Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), California
Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), Ag Innovations
and the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Dennis Donohue, director of the Western Growers
Center for Innovation & Technology in Salinas, California,
said in the year leading up to the Roadmap to 2050 release,
anticipation grew.
Dennis Donohue,
director of the Western
Growers Center for
Innovation & Technology
in Salinas, California
" We were aware that DPR, CDFA, CalEPA, that
working group, were going to produce a product, and that
it was likely to change the landscape, " Donohue said. " In
general terms, it's 'Use less chemistry and more biology.' "
In talking with Western Growers' members and board
members, Donohue decided " it would be a good idea if we got
ahead of things a little bit. "
He said the industry wants to avoid another " methyl
bromide situation, " referring to the effective fumigant relied on
by growers of strawberries and other crops that was banned in
the U.S., leaving growers without an effective alternative.
18 MAY/JUNE 2023
May June 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May June 2023
