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Restrictions on High VOC Pesticide Products

SACRAMENTO, CA - Next year the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) will likely not allow some pesticides that are high in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) to be used in the San Joaquin Valley non-attainment area between May and October. The specific areas affected include: the San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, and Tulare counties and the parts of Kern County. The restrictions are needed in order to comply with the Clean Air Act.

Statewide pesticides account for about 2% of all VOCs.

DPR has preliminary data that shows that the VOC emissions in 2013 slightly increased. As a result, we need more restrictions in place to ensure we don’t exceed our goal next year. These restrictions are mandated by regulations that are part of the State Implementation Plan (SIP) under the Clean Air Act.

The restrictions will likely mean that pest control advisers cannot recommend and growers cannot use:

High-VOC products containing abamectin, chlorpyrifos, gibberellins, or oxyfluorfen

• Applied in San Joaquin Valley
• Applied between May 1 and October 31, 2015, and May-October 2016
• For alfalfa, almonds, citrus, cotton, grapes, pistachios, or walnuts.

Here is more info:

As part of the state implementation plan (SIP) for the Clean Air Act, DPR is required to publish an inventory of VOC emissions from pesticide products each year and achieve specified emissions levels. DPR’s preliminary 2013 data for the San Joaquin Valley shows that pesticide VOC emissions were above 17.2 tons per day (i.e. at 95% of our required limit). Therefore the SIP requires that certain uses of designated high-VOC products are prohibited for the upcoming year.

There is more detailed information about VOC emissions on our website: www.cdpr.ca.gov