Pest Management Projects

Back to Pest Management

In addition to Pest Management Alliance and Research Grant projects, there are numerous other research and outreach projects addressing a wide variety of pest management issues that were undertaken by various groups sponsored by or in cooperation with DPR. The Pest Management Projects page is a source of information on these projects.

The Pests, Pesticides and IPM Project

The Pests, Pesticides, and IPM (PPI) Project was a joint project between DPR and UC-IPM designed to increase the understanding of the complexities of pest management by the general public and to encourage more adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) by practitioners in the field. During 2016 to 2018 a series of in-depth discussions was organized on why IPM has not met its full potential in California and what can be done to improve our outreach. To ensure broad perspectives, seasoned thought leaders, researchers, extension personnel, IPM practitioners, people that use pesticides, people impacted by pesticide use, worker representatives, non-English speakers, retailers and regulators from the urban and rural areas of California were included. Funding for the Pests, Pesticides, and IPM Project was provided by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (Agreement Number 16–C0061).

See the project synopsis here: Pests, Pesticides and IPM Project Synopsis, PDF

Roadmap for integrated pest management synopsis                                                 

See the Roadmap for Integrated Pest Management here:

See a Non-Technical Summary here: Pests, Pesticides and IPM Non-Technical Summary, PDF

Visit the official PPI website

Bedding and Color Container Plants

Citrus

  • Citrus Ecoinformatics - DPR contracted with Jay Rosenheim, University of California, Davis, Department of Entomology, to conduct an ecoinformatics analysis on citrus production data in order to develop improved pest management recommendations for citrus growers. Ecoinformatics is a research strategy that uses large, pre-existing data sets to test important hypotheses, in contrast to traditional experimental field studies that generate relatively small and site-specific data sets and have limited broad-scale applicability.

Cotton

  • Cotton Ecoinformatics - DPR contracted with Jay Rosenheim, University of California, Davis, Department of Entomology, to expand an ecoinformatics analysis by analyzing the effects of Lygus densities and pesticide use on lint quality. Ecoinformatics is a research strategy that uses large, pre-existing data sets to test important hypotheses, in contrast to traditional experimental field studies that generate relatively small and site-specific data sets and have limited broad-scale applicability.

Critical Uses of Chlorpyrifos

Fumigants

Soil Health

  • Soil Health Symposium: There is more life in soil than above it, and yet soil is one of the least understood ecosystems. If California is to continue to be a major food producer, we need to have a deeper understanding of soil, recognize new challenges, and find solutions. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation, in association with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the University of California at Davis, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service hosted a day-long symposium on soil health. It brought together about 100 scientists, practitioners, and industry representatives to discuss how to better understand the gaps in our knowledge and where best to focus our research priorities as we learn more about producing healthy soil without polluting the environment.

    • An Integrated Soil Health Framework for California, PDF (716 kb): Soil health symposium summary and research recommendations.

Strawberry

  • Comprehensive list of strawberry-related projects, PDF (105 kb)
  • Nonfumigant Strawberry Production Working Group - DPR convened a working group with the goal to accelerate change in strawberry production to be less reliant on traditional soil fumigants, yet economically manage soilborne pests.
  • California Strawberry Commission Partnership (2012 - 2015) - A research partnership that looked for alternatives to fumigant pesticides. The three-year project explored ways to grow strawberries in peat or substances other than soil.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Research Symposium

Since 2013 the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) Pest Management Research Grant Program has been providing funds for research projects that develop integrated pest management (IPM) in both agricultural and urban situations. To date, more than 6.3 million dollars has been awarded to fund 27 projects. Over the same time period more than 2 million dollars has been awarded for research contracts to explore facets of IPM of special interest to DPR. Sharing the outcomes of this research is integral to the mission of DPR, part of which is to "foster reduced-risk pest management".

To that end, DPR has hosted an Integrated Pest Management Research Symposium to showcase DPR funded research and outreach projects that have recently been completed, or are nearing completion.

The 1st IPM Research Symposium took place on March 21, 2017 at Sacramento State University, Modoc Hall, Willow Suites 2 & 3. Almost 70 attendees heard research results from 10 projects.

The 2nd IPM Research Symposium took place on March 26, 2019, also at Sacramento State University, Modoc Hall, Willow Suites 1 & 2. More than 50 attendees heard research results from 9 projects.

DPR plans to make this a biannual event.


For content questions, contact:
Leslie Talpasanu
Environmental Program Manager I
Agricultural Pest Management Program
California Department of Pesticide Regulation
Integrated Pest Management Branch
1001 I Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
E-mail: Leslie.Talpasanu@cdpr.ca.gov