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By Ron Whitehurst / Guest contributor
In the Ventura County General Plan Update there is an opportunity to support biologically based Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM focuses on long-term prevention of pests through cultural practices, resistant crop varieties, building insect habitat, and use of biological pest control and avoiding the toxic chemical pesticides with a ‘danger” label except as a last resort. Our Ventura County Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Levin, calls us to envision a county with no toxic pesticide (danger label) use in 20 years.
Pesticide use depends on disposable land and people. After years of heavy use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers the soil is practically devoid of organic matter and needs life support to grow a crop. The disposable people are complaining and filing lawsuits.
There used to be an “away.” We could throw stuff away and it would be gone. Now we know that there is no away. We are down wind, downstream, next to someone who will have to experience a degraded lifestyle from the trash, toxins, poison that we put out in our environment. How do we get the job done of producing food without using toxic stuff and so much fossil fuel?
Ventura County has a rich history of using biological controls to control pests. In 1888 the vedalia beetle (Rodolia cardinalis) was introduced from Australia to control the Cottony Cushion Scale by the CA Department of Biological Control. Limonera was the first to start an insectary in 1917. Twenty Two Citrus Protective districts were set up in the nine southern California counties to help control citrus pests and grow beneficial insects for the local growers. A small fee was charged per acre to support the districts. At the height of Filmore’s program, Filmore’s members were spending one tenth of what farmers outside of the district were spending on chemical pest control, and getting a better result. Four generations of farmers have had experience with successful biocontrol programs to control pests of local crops.
Ventura 350 Climate Hub is organizing input and you can check the website to see what we are suggesting (www.world.350.org/ventura) and then contact your county supervisor to tell them what you want to see in the plan.
There are growers producing all of the crops grown in Ventura, biologically, and with some soft organic pesticides. This shows that there is no need for toxic pesticides.
Externalities
The social cost of a pesticide is not reflected in the cost paid for the product at a farm store. We must now include the negative health effects of the pesticide on farm workers, neighbors and the public in general. We must also factor in the degraded environment, with reduced number of insects, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
Focus on soil health and ecology
I can talk about replacing pesticides one by one with biological solutions, but I would rather talk about the ecosystem. Biological controls work best when supported by the natural enemy complex that exists on a farm with a lot of diversity. The practices of mulching, planting cover crops, using compost for fertility, and minimum tilling create the soil and plant diversity that supports the beneficial insects that eat the pest insects These practices also sequester carbon and help reduce CO2 and infiltrate rain water.
Jon Lundgren’s student just published a study of South Dakota corn farmers which showed the higher soil organic matter on regenerative farms correlated with increased net profit. This shows that regenerative organic pays dividends in healthier food, resilient farms and money in the bank. See www.ecdysis.bio
Help for Farmers
Farmers work hard to be good stewards of their land. We don’t need more regulations or punitive fines. With a growing appreciation of the role of soil health and ecology, farmers want support and guidance to grow healthy produce in harmony with nature. The best way to educate farmers is through a peer to peer exchange. Food First has a program called farmer to farmer / Campesino a campesino https://foodfirst.org/we-are-the-solution/ We participated in the local Lighthouse group organized by CAAF a couple decades ago, where farmers got together at a local restaurant to discuss what they were doing to transition to organic practices. www.caff.org
We can have it all – produce health-giving fruit and vegetables and enjoy a healthy environment to live and grow our kids. Let’s put programs incorporating these ideas in the Ventura County General Plan Update.
— Ron Whitehurst is a Pest Control Advisor for Rincon-Vitova Insectaries in Ventura.
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