Typically the staunchest supporters of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, farmers are voicing reservations about the state’s effort to spray pheromones over the Central Coast — and they say they’re caught in the middle of an ugly public relations crossfire.

“It pits farming against the health concerns of the community,” said Dave Cavanaugh, chairman of the Light Brown Apple Moth Task Force and operator of Cavanaugh Color in Watsonville, as he reflected on the state’s continued plans to spray pheromones over California cities.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has threatened to jump in and take over the state’s eradication effort, many farmers point out, so they can understand why the state has pushed for widespread spraying of pheromones — a synthetic secretion that has been used to hamper moth reproduction.

But farmers express ambivalence — they want the pest eliminated so they can sell their crops, but they also don’t want a public-relations nightmare.

Many farmers — and not just nursery owners — also question the effectiveness of using pheromone spray without tackling the pest through other methods.

“I don’t see where that’s going to be the answer, the end-all,” said Steve Bontadelli, a La Selva Beach farmer. “Maybe start developing some of these alternatives.”

Local nurseryman Jeff Rosendale and Daniel Harder, botanist and executive director of the University of California at Santa Cruz Arboretum, stirred up controversy with the release this month of a report, titled, “Integrated Pest Management Practices for the Light Brown Apple Moth in New Zealand: Implications for California.” The report challenges the state’s ongoing plans to spray pheromones over cities.

Now, as state legislators launch a flurry of bills calling for increased study of the moth spray, farmers worry that CDFA is losing the public relations battle.

“This spray issue is such a hot-button issue, they’re losing ground by spinning their wheels,” Bontadelli said.

“I want to give CDFA and USDA credit for at least trying to find something that’s going to help reduce the populations,” Cavanaugh said. “(But) the science hasn’t been out long enough, and that’s where the concerns come in.”

Cavanaugh said he plans to meet with the LBAM Task Force in the upcoming month and try to come up with a new way of approaching the apple moth issue. Potentially, the bigger picture that will be discussed will be a recommendation for the state to look at classification of the insect (some dispute this Australian bug’s reputation as a voracious destroyer of crops and plant life); review funding for increased research; and develop a process with more open dialogue with the community, Cavanaugh said.

“As far as the efficacy of pheromones … I think it plays a part,” Cavanaugh said. “I don’t think the CDFA and USDA are being realistic about the part that it plays.”

Bontadelli said the federal government could impose harsher quarantine rules on nurseries if the state can’t eradicate the apple moth — hence, the aggressive stance adopted by CDFA, he noted.

Still, he said the state failed to gain buy-in from citizens, who now want assurances that the pheromone won’t cause health problems for people in the spray zone.

“PR wise, they just went about it the wrong way originally and antagonized people right off the bat to make it a much tougher road,” Bontadelli said.

“I have to place the blame squarely on an antiquated pest-exclusion program that has been around forever,” Cavanaugh said. “CDFA has been unwilling to look at the way they do things.”

The state is sticking with its strategy. CDFA Secretary A.G. Kawamura has become more visible in recent weeks on the pheromone issue, visiting with farmers in Monterey County last week and going on Food Chain Radio Show with Michael Olson Saturday to explain CDFA’s management of the light brown apple moth.

The show, according to a press release from the radio station, aimed to explore why “the application of a synthetic hormone to control the LBAM has become so problematic for CDFA; how CDFA will attempt to manage LBAM given the competing demands of federal and local governments, and national and international markets; and what will likely happen to Central Coast agriculture should CDFA fail to manage the LBAM” (see www.metrofarm.com for details).

The state also has warned of trade restrictions on California crops from Canada and Mexico as a result of the pest’s arrival in California.

Cavanaugh said he understands the appeal of using pheromones. Old pesticides, such as malathion employed against Mediterranean fruit flies, were toxic, whereas pheromones haven’t been demonstrated to harm the environment, according to the state and federal governments. Pheromones, CDFA emphasizes repeatedly, aren’t lethal even to the moths, causing only mating disruption by confusing the male moths.

Still, farmers and nurserymen are sensitive to a backlash from segments of the population that increasingly have protested pheromone spraying and from legislators reacting to this public uproar.

“I just hate to see agriculture being pitted against the community,” Cavanaugh said. “It’s wrong, and anybody would try to avoid that like the plague.”

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

(Published in 3/24/08 edition)

Share on Facebook