By Agroecology Fund*

In 2019, California took its first bold steps toward Sustainable Pest Management. A participatory-action research initiative led by PANNA helped inform coalition advocacy for procurement policies that include and support smallholder producers’ agroecological practices.

Strawberries, nuts, lemons, mandarins, or grapes: if you buy any of these products at a supermarket in the U.S., there is a good chance they are from California. According to the state government, “nearly half of the country’s vegetables and over three-quarters of the country’s fruits and nuts are grown in California.” California is also the world’s fourth-largest economy, ahead of Japan, and the leading agricultural state in the U.S. Therefore, what happens in California’s agricultural sector—including decisions about pesticide use—has implications far beyond the state’s borders.

In 2023, California applied 176 million pounds of pesticide-active ingredients to its crops—one of the largest reported pesticide-use totals in the country. Although statewide use declined by 3 percent from 2022, the impacts of pesticide use remain a concern for ecosystems and farmers’ health, and contribute to the development of pesticide-resistant pests. At the same time, California and communities around the world face another major challenge: climate change, which is expected to alter pest pressures and make sustainable pest management increasingly important. 

The need for Sustainable Pest Management has been a key topic in global discussions. It is included in two major international frameworks: the Global Biodiversity Framework and the Global Voluntary Framework on Chemicals. They both seek to reduce overall risks from pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals and to implement policies and programs that support safer and more sustainable agricultural practices, including agroecology, by 2030. But is California on its way to reach that goal?

A holistic approach for pest management that includes small farmers

“Agroecology is still a new term in the states’ vocabulary,” says Allison Davis, Executive Director for the Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network North America (PANNA).

“People really worry about pesticide use because they want healthier food systems and worker protections, and the state also has organic food goals. Now we are proposing a holistic lens to pest management that will benefit from an agroecological approach.”  – Allison Davis, PANNA

In 2019, PANNA joined a multi-stakeholder Sustainable Pest Management (SPM) task force that developed California’s first SPM Roadmap. The roadmap is built around four pillars: human health, social equity, environmental protection, and economic vitality.

In 2023, California funded and staffed the body responsible for implementing the roadmap, including developing criteria to identify agricultural products grown in accordance with SPM principles. PANNA convened a 33-member civil society coalition, supported by the Agroecology Fund, to provide expert advice on how SPM farming systems could be defined and recognized, and inclusive of small and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) farmers.

“We want to make sure that small and diversified farmers have access to the procurement processes of the state and local institutions,” – Allison Davis, PANNA

To help inform group advocacy, PANNA led a Participatory Action Research project through AEF’s IPA-Global initiative. The project sought to map the resources and knowledge available in the state on ecological pest management, while generating policy recommendations on how ecological pest-prevention knowledge is generated, shared, and accessed across California’s agricultural sector.

Honoring and Applying Farmer Knowledge 

In the Salinas Valley, one of the most productive agricultural regions in California, Latino farmers bring the classroom to the field, applying sustainable practices learned at the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA).  Another organization in a California urban area, the Sogorea T’ Land Trust, an Indigenous women-led organization, seeks to heal and transform the legacies of colonization through practices of rematriation and land restoration. Examples of local organizations promoting agroecological practices go on. 

“California has a very robust set of actors involved in ecological systems at a very local level. They should be recognized and better funded,” – Margaret Reeves, Senior Scientist at PANNA 

PANNA documented the breadth and legitimacy of existing knowledge systems and compiled a mapping of training programs, research institutions, and farmer-to-farmer learning networks, including those of small-scale organic farmers.

“Holistic pest prevention happens through whole farm systems management, and this is getting lost. We want to make more visible the farmer knowledge systems across the state,” – Allison Davis, PANNA 

Other key aspects of the SPM Roadmap include procurement policies that do not leave BIPOC producers behind; for that, the availability of a more accessible organic certification is vital. 

CNG: One possible pathway for smallholder producers to demonstrate practices aligned with Sustainable Pest Management

For PANNA, the question is not only how to define SPM but also how lower-income farmers can demonstrate they meet those standards without incurring the costs of a costly certification process. For smallholders, the cost and administrative burden of organic certification can be a significant barrier. Only 9% of California cropland is certified organic. To help include smaller growers in SPM procurement, PANNA is looking beyond conventional certification models and drawing on approaches such as Certified Naturally Grown (CNG), which supports small-scale farmers using organic practices through a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS).

“We need to make sure new, small, and mid-sized farmers are included, and PGS is key to that. This is the first time the government agencies have heard of PGS. The rest of the world is ahead of us with this,” – Allison Davis, PANNA

Kathyn and Ron Khosla, a couple of farmers who started a Community Supported Agriculture system on their farm in the New Paltz Flats, New York, have been thinking about the importance of a PGS for small farmers for more than two decades, and in 2002, they established CNG.

“The CNG is a less conventional certification system that holds the same standard as organic, but they have less paperwork, they are not as costly, and they also have a beautiful farmer-to-farmer exchange network.” – Sakerah Maskal, Policy and Advocacy Lead at PANNA

Through IPA-Global, PANNA, and its partners are advocating for CNG to be recognized as one way for smallholders to demonstrate compliance with SPM procurement criteria.

From research to action

PANNA’s participatory research has developed a set of recommendations to help turn California’s SPM vision into action. The recommendations call for greater investment in farmer-led research and demonstration projects, direct financial support and stronger incentives for farmers transitioning away from pesticide-intensive systems, and stronger food hubs, cooperatives, and institutional markets that can create opportunities for smaller BIPOC growers. 

Together, these recommendations point to a broader lesson: a successful transition to Sustainable Pest Management will depend not only on new policies and practices, but on recognizing, investing in, and acting on the knowledge of the farmers and communities already cultivating alternatives.

*This article is based on research, documentation, and insights produced by the Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network North America (PANNA).