Claudia Vazquez

Claudia Vazquez was appointed Director of the Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Division (CPDPD) at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) by Secretary Karen Ross in September 2025.

She joined CDFA in 2012 as an Agricultural Aide for the Pest Detection/Emergency Projects (PD/EP) Branch, working on the European grapevine moth eradication project in Napa County. As a career civil servant, she has since held leadership positions across CDFA, including the Pest Exclusion Branch and the Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Division.

In her most recent role, Claudia managed the Comprehensive Pest Prevention Program Analysis (C3PA), a priority action in the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s Sustainable Pest Management Roadmap. Funded by the California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association (CACASA), the multi-year project assessed the effectiveness of California’s pest prevention system against invasive species and fostered collaboration among academia, industry stakeholders, and CACASA.

Claudia holds a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Management and Rangeland Resources from the University of California, Davis, and a graduate degree in Agricultural Education from California State University, Chico. While in college, she spent a summer working for the USDA Farm Service Agency, assisting farmers with commodity and disaster assistance programs and completing seasonal acreage reports—an experience that solidified her desire to serve California’s agricultural community.

She grew up on her family’s cherry farm in Gustine, California, where they have farmed for more than four decades.