A new rule aimed at reducing pesticide exposure to children takes effect on Jan. 1, 2018. The regulation prohibits any pesticide applications within one-quarter mile of schools and day care centers Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., depending on the type of application:
- Covered application methods include airblast, aircraft, sprinkler chemigation, certain dusts or powders and fumigants (both pre-plant and post-harvest).
- Groundrig applications have a 25-foot buffer requirement.
The rule applies to public schools and certain licensed day care facilities, but not to private schools or family day care homes. The buffer zones apply to the outer edge of school property as well as nearby parks, if regularly used for school purposes.
Growers will be required to provide annual notification of pesticide applications they plan to make between July 1 of that year through June 30 of the following year to schools within one-quarter mile of the orchard, regardless of method of application. The list of the pesticides’ active ingredients and adjuvants is to be submitted to the principal of the school/head of the day care center as well as to the County Agricultural Commissioner’s office. The deadline for this notice is April 30 of each year.
If a grower seeks to apply a pesticide not on the list to an orchard impacted by the rule, school sites should be informed at least 48 hours prior to their use.
Based on an Almond Board of California-funded analysis, between 15,000 and 46,000 acres of almonds (730 to 2,500 orchards) could be affected by the rule, depending on the outer boundary of the school property.
The Almond Alliance of California submitted comments last year outlining concerns. Comments focused on the lack of any additional health risks that would be addressed under the new guidelines and the creation of a new standard of “concern” as a driver for the proposed rule, rather than a risk assessment. Existing federal, state and local regulations on pesticides are in place to ensure public protection.
As the Almond Alliance noted, “there are extensive risk assessments and risk mitigation requirements based on stringent scientific standards that registrants already follow, and growers implement, costing hundreds of millions of dollars for compliance. This rule harms the whole foundation of any chemical regulatory process – whether pesticides, human or veterinary drugs, or food additives.”
Additionally, there was disagreement with the calculation that the regulations would have limited agronomic and economic impacts. As an example, there is a very narrow window during bloom for fungicide sprays as growers must work between rain storms when the ground is sufficiently dry. It was noted that up to 25% of a crop could be lost from missing just one bloom spray.
View the full text of the Almond Alliance’s comments online.
For more information, visit California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s webpage: Pesticide Use Near Schoolsites. Applicators are also encouraged to contact their County Agricultural Commissioner with questions or for additional information.
