CDFA AWARDS MORE THAN $500,000 FOR PROACTIVE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM) SOLUTIONS GRANT PROGRAM

Project will develop and optimize a management strategy for major pest threatening California date growers

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SACRAMENTO, November 30, 2023 - The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has awarded more than $500,000 in funding for one project in the sixth funding cycle of the Proactive Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Solutions grant program. The project will consist of two years and two months developing and refining a proactive, low-impact control program for South American palm weevil, an invasive pest in California that is not yet found in agricultural areas. 
 
“California’s agricultural community is making real progress on sustainable pest management solutions for growers big and small, and for the benefit of the communities they serve as well,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “This project is about building a solution now for a pest that we know is knocking on the door for our date palm farmers – and it’s about looking first for solutions that reduce the need for pesticide use.”
 
Project leader Dr. Mark Hoddle at UC Riverside will receive funding for his project, titled “Development of a Proactive IPM Program for the California Date Industry: Optimizing Attract and Kill for Managing the Invasive South American Palm Weevil.” Attract and Kill is a management strategy that employs pheromone-baited traps to lure and eliminate pests. This project will assess the efficacy of this strategy against South American palm weevil. This proactive IPM work is designed to give growers a sustainable, reduced-insecticide-use control tool that can be rapidly employed by commercial date producers, ideally before the South American palm weevil becomes established in date production areas of Coachella Valley. 
 
“By supporting the development of management tools for highly invasive pests before they arrive in California or spread within the state, the innovative CDFA Proactive IPM program is bolstering the biosecurity preparedness of California into the future,” said Brian Hogg, Research Entomologist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s Invasive Species and Pollinator Health Research Unit. 
 
CDFA’s Office of Pesticide Consultation and Analysis manages the Proactive IPM Solutions Program with the goal of anticipating which exotic pests are likely to arrive in California and/or spread from isolated local populations, and the office will use that information to develop and test low-impact management strategies that can be quickly implemented if these pests become established in the state. Having strategies in place can lead to a reduction in the long-term use of broad-spectrum pesticides, a key goal of the state’s Sustainable Pest Management Roadmap. 
 
Detailed information on this program, including the application process and application requirements, is available at: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/opca/proactive-ipm.html
 
Information on CDFA’s Office of Pesticide Consultation and Analysis is available at: 
https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/opca/ 
 

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