Benefits

Health Equity

California has the highest poverty rate in the nation and roughly 3.5 million Californian’s rely on federal food assistance. California’s diverse agriculture has an important role not only in providing economic opportunity for millions of Californians, but also providing healthy and affordable food for the least advantaged.

Protecting California grown fruits, nuts, vegetables and other crops from destruction by pests and diseases, whether with an organic pesticide, a conventional pesticide or non-chemical techniques, helps make this healthy food affordable and accessible to all Californian’s.

Natural Resources

Agricultural technology, including pesticides, help growers optimize their use of natural resources to grow sustainable, healthy foods. It is no one’s idea of sustainable to invest the energy, water, money and time into growing a crop only to have it destroyed by a pest before harvest.

With California’s water strain, and the pressure put on the system by climate change, it becomes increasingly important to make sure this water is put to good use.  Pesticides help make sure this water goes to the crop, and not to feeding weeds or wasted in a damaged or destroyed harvest.

Climate Change

Climate change is increasing the pressure from many pests and diseases and will likely result in more new pests arriving in the state. New invasive pests without natural predators can spread quickly into California agriculture. This is not a new experience for California, which turned to a range of tools to manage Mediterranean fruit fly and other fast spreading pests that threatened to destroy California crops. Access to effective pesticides, and a system that encourages the development of newer and better tools to deal with new threats is an important part of a climate prepared California.

Economic Impact

Pesticides help agriculture workers produce larger yields to feed a growing population. Without pesticides, food prices would spike and it would be harder to find some of the most popular food at the grocery store. A study published by the California Bountiful Foundation concludes, for example, that lettuce prices could jump by up to 8.2%.