Office of Pesticide
Consultation & Analysis
Office of Agricultural Resilience and Sustainability
The Governor's 1991 Reorganization Plan relieved CDFA of its pesticide regulatory authority, relocating it within the newly-formed Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) inside the California Environmental Protection agency (Cal-EPA). In order to maintain an agricultural touchpoint, Food & Agricultural Code Section 11454.2 was established at the same time. It directs DPR to consult with CDFA on proposed pesticide regulations; consultation is carried out under a Memorandum of Agreement, originally signed on 6 February 1992. The Office of Pesticide Consultation & Analysis (OPCA) performs CDFA's consultative role. OPCA is not involved in pesticide registration nor in pesticide use enforcement as such activities are solely in the purview of DPR.
OPCA's consultative activities focus on potential impacts of regulations and pest management alternatives that may mitigate or prevent such impacts on production agriculture. OPCA tracks a continuous stream of regulations concerning various pesticide active ingredients. The office monitors developments related to management of pesticides near agricultural-urban interfaces, volatile organic compound emissions and toxic air contaminants, surface water and groundwater topics, worker safety issues, and a variety of other matters. In consultation with pest management experts, OPCA authors comments to DPR on regulatory issues including the cancellation of registered pesticides.
The majority of OPCA's publications are available online.
For information please email the Office of Pesticide Consultation and Analysis.
Public Benefits
FAC Section 11454.2 establishes that DPR needs to consult with CDFA on agriculture pesticide related regulatory actions. OPCA provides that consultative service for CDFA. As state and federal pesticide regulations become ever more restricted, understanding the science and economics of different pest management techniques is imperative.
Types of Grant Funding
OPCA Publications & Reports
OPCA writes and publishes a variety of research and policy analyses related to regulatory impact and agricultural pest management. View the full list of Publications and Reports.
Success Stories
Neonicotinoid Regulations
OPCA provided significant consultation for DPR’s re-evaluation and mitigation of nitroguanidine-substituted neonicotinoid (NGN) insecticides: clothianidin, dinotefuran, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam, as directed by the legislature. OPCA analyzed four different scenarios as the regulations were developed. The final regulation, which took effect in January, 2024 was a finely targeted mitigation regulation, which was not common in the United States. The crop-specific provisions are designed to mitigate negative effects of NGNs on managed pollinators by reducing their exposure to NGNs while recognizing that a targeted approach can enable some crops to maintain close to historical levels or of the most critical uses while other crops would see significant economic and pest management impacts. The first scenario analyzed by OPCA of the costs of broader restrictions first proposed in the DPR risk assessment showed that the costs likely be 11 to 16 times as large as the results of this current analysis, depending on the year. The refinement of the proposed regulation was particularly important for crops that use NGNs to control virus vectors, such as strawberry and tomato. OPCA’s role in highlighting areas of potential high economic and pest management impact was crucial to providing DPR with information during the rule making. OPCA published the resulting paper in the Journal of Economic Entomology in 2022.
Pesticide Use After Pest Invasion
In 2024, OPCA scientists quantified pesticide use after the arrival of a set of invasive species. The arrival and establishment of invasive species can have major impacts on agricultural pest management and export markets. We quantitatively examine the changes in pesticide use for specific crops after the arrival of glassy wing sharpshooter (GWSS), European grapevine moth (EGVM), olive fruit fly (OLFF), Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), spotted wing drosophila (SWD), and exotic fruit flies. The work was part of CDFA’s Comprehensive Pest Prevention Program Analysis.
European Grapevine Moth (Lobesia botrana, EGVM) was first detected in Napa County in September 2009, where it caused significant crop damage. After EGVM detection in 2009, USDA, CDFA, and the County Agricultural Commissioners (CACs) conducted coordinated trapping operations to detect EGVM in all of California’s grape growing regions and 5-mile quarantine zones were established in eight counties where two or more adult moths were trapped, with highest populations in Napa County. Two additional counties were added following detections in 2011. After extensive coordinated management, EGVM was declared fully eradicated by the end of 2016 after successful quarantine, trapping, and insecticide control programs.
In August 2015 near the end of eradication, CDFA estimated that Napa County spent $9.8 million, the wine industry spent $49 million, and the USDA spent $46.5 million to control EGVM. Our analysis showed that treatment intensity increased between -3.5 and 6,900% for AIs that were in use prior to the invasion. Three AIs were not in use prior to the invasion so an increase cannot specifically be calculated. Overall treatment intensity over all AIs increased by 2,949% during the active invasion period. Without early detection and rapid response to EGVM’s arrival, it is highly possible that insecticide use would’ve increased more rapidly over this period, especially as the active ingredients targeting EGVM are not currently used for other pests.