September, 2011 / New America Media / Ngoc Nguyen
Banned Pesticide Use Remains High in CA Strawberry Fields
In the Watsonville and Salinas areas, where strawberry nurseries are located, have in the past reached or exceeded the monthly use levels. Photo by David Bacon.
CRLA continues to aggressively monitor pesticide use policy and local impact of pesticide application. In some of California's top strawberry-growing counties, levels of banned methyl bromide remain nearly as high as they were a decade ago, despite a mandated phase-out, according to an analysis by New America Media.
SAN FRANCISCO-In some of California's top strawberry-growing counties, levels of banned methyl bromide remain nearly as high as they were a decade ago, despite a mandated phaseout, according to an analysis by New America Media.
The fumigant was supposed to have been phased out completely by 2005, under a global pact to halt the thinning of the earth's protective ozone layer. But in 2009, the latest year for which data is available, more than 5 million pounds of the pesticide were still in use, down just 50 percent from 2000.
A limited amount of methyl bromide is allowed for use in instances where no alternative exists, through a "critical use exemption," determined by treaty members in a three-year process and administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Strawberry growers in California are among the groups that can apply for an exemption.