Pesticide Use Report Program Commodity Code Updates
DPR’s Pesticide Use Reporting (PUR) Program relies on information compiled by the Pesticide Registration Branch (PRB) staff in the Product/Label Database. The information from registrants and the DPR-accepted pesticide product labeling is used to validate pesticide use reports submitted to the Department. Of the over 2,000 active site codes used in the Product/Label Database, the PUR Program uses approximately 320 as commodity codes for pesticide use reports. This letter is to inform County Agricultural Commissioners (CACs) of the effect changes to the site codes have on the commodity codes used for pesticide use reporting, and request CACs to inactivate or update the corresponding codes in CalAgPermits.
Background
As part of the Department’s transition from the legacy Product/Label Database to CalPEST, in 2025 staff from PRB, the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Branch, and the Enforcement Headquarters Branch reviewed all the site codes used in the legacy Product/Label Database to ensure that the site code information used in CalPEST is accurate and complete by reducing duplication and increasing clarity and consistency. The resulting site code changes account for:
- How use sites are listed on pesticide product labeling and in the crop group tables in Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations section 180.41,
- Current consensus on taxonomic nomenclature, and
- How the changes affect other DPR programs like Residue Monitoring and PUR.
The updated site codes are viewable on Product Information Reports (PIRs) available through the CalPEST public search portal.
Over the upcoming year, as new products are registered or as existing pesticide product labeling is revised, these CalPEST site code changes will begin to affect CAC pesticide use report review in CalAgPermits and subsequent submission to DPR.
Inactivated Commodity Codes
The codes listed in the table on the next page were inactivated in CalPEST. Therefore, they will not be available to PRB staff to add to PIRs in the future. The inactivation of these codes will not affect pesticide use report validation in cases where existing PIRs previously included these site codes.
To avoid future CalAgPermits or DPR pesticide use report validation errors, over the next year we recommend you phase out using these 17 commodity codes on restricted material permits, operator identification numbers (OINs), and pesticide use reports and use the recommended commodity codes listed below:
| Code to Inactivate | Commodity Code Name | Recommended Replacement (codes in parentheses) |
|---|---|---|
| 1023 | Bushberry | Appropriate berry crop code, such as Blueberry (1009), Currant (1011), Raspberry (1006), etc. |
| 7000 | Beverage crop | Appropriate crop code, such as Agave (29003), Coffee (7002), Mint (28012), Sugarcane (25003), Tea (7003), etc. |
| 13043 | Vegetables, stem | Appropriate stem vegetable crop code, such as Celery (29113), Asparagus (16002), Fennel (28008), Kohlrabi (13012), etc. |
| 13046 | Shungiku | Chrysanthemum, edible leaved (Shungiku) (13058) |
| 13054 | Mustard cabbage (pak choi) | Cabbage, Chinese mustard (gai choy) (13509) |
| 13068 | Water spinach (edible) | Water spinach (water convolvulus, ung choy) (13037) |
| 13505 | Savoy cabbage | Cabbage (13007) |
| 13516 | Spinach, Malabar | Spinach, Malabar (vine/Ceylon/Indian) (13517) |
| 13519 | Indian amaranth (hinn choy) | Amaranth, leafy (Ch. spinach/tampala/yin choy) (13033) |
| 13903 | Gai lon | Chinese broccoli (gai lon) (13053) |
| 13999 | Chinese greens | Appropriate crop code, such as Bok choy (choy sum, pak choy) (13502), Gai lon (13903), Water spinach (water convolvulus, ung choy) (13037), etc. |
| 25501 | Honey (sugar crop) | Beehive (61008) |
| 27000 | Oilseed | Appropriate oil seed crop code, such as Rapeseed (canola) (oil crop) (27017), Sunflower (29133), Safflower (29129), etc. |
| 27010 | Soybean oil | Soybean (28023) |
| 28051 | Canola (rape) | Rapeseed (canola) (oil crop) (27017) or Rape greens (leafy vegetable) (13036) |
| 28078 | Grain | Crop code for the specific grain, such as Barley (29103), Wheat (29139), Corn, field dent, (grain crop) (24002), etc. |
| 29123 | Mustard | Mustard greens (13021) or Mustard (flavoring and spice crop) (8028) |
| 68002 | Residential | Household or res. dwellings (indoor and outdoor) (63000) or Household or residential dwellings (indoor) (63001) |
To begin phasing out these commodity codes, go to the Commodities Admin in CalAgPermits and add “do not use” or similar following the commodity name. Note, the commodity code must still be active for you to search for it in Query>Permits. As permits or operator identification numbers are issued or revised, remove the commodity code noted above and replace it with the one suggested. It is a best practice to ensure the change is conveyed to the applicable permit or OIN holder and their pesticide use report submitter(s) when making the change. Finally, once the code is removed from all permits and OINs, go to Commodities Admin and inactivate the commodity code so that it won’t be used again.
Commodity Code Name Changes
The attached “PUR Code Changes” spreadsheet includes 79 commodity codes which have been updated in both CalPEST and DPR’s PUR database. To promote consistency between the way labels are coded and pesticide use report review, evaluation, and enforcement, we recommend updating the listed commodity code names in the Commodities Admin in CalAgPermits.
Many internal and external stakeholders rely on the accuracy and completeness of the pesticide use data CACs transmit to DPR. DPR is aware that some CACs have modified their commodity code descriptions in CalAgPermits. Modifications may change the intended purpose or scope of the commodity codes. Please have your staff review the commodity codes used by your county in CalAgPermits and ensure the names used for pesticide use reports are consistent with the names on DPR’s commodity code list. The full list of current commodity code names, updated to include the changes in the attached spreadsheet, for use with pesticide use reports are available on DPR’s website.
If you discover an error on a PIR in CalPEST, please report it to the PRB Database Steward by using the feedback button on the PIR. If you have questions on the PUR Program, please contact PUR.inquiry@cdpr.ca.gov. If you have other enforcement-related questions, such as pesticide labeling use site interpretation, please contact the Enforcement Branch Liaison assigned to your county.
Sincerely,