The California Department of Food and Agriculture has awarded $1 million in funding to the Community Alliance with Family Farmers to support a project testing pheromone mating disruption and biological control programs to be used on a number of walnut pests.
The funding was awarded as a part of the department’s Biologically Integrated Farming Systems Grant program and as part of the Newsom administration’s effort to support alternatives to chlorpyrifos, after banning the sale of the insecticide in February.
“More widespread adoption of alternative, non-spray practices will help protect the health of California’s residents and sensitive ecosystems, while ensuring food supply chains remain secure,” a release said.
The funding will be used to create six demonstration sites each covering 40 acres in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys that will use alternate control methods for several known walnut pests, including coddling moth and navel orangeworm.
The release also stated that the Biologically Integrated Farming Systems team will “engage in outreach activities to promote the adoption of biologically integrated practices and foster farmer-to-farmer information exchange.”
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