SprayDays California to provide pesticide alerts, interactive online map

New pesticide alerts draw praise, criticism in Pajaro Valley

Farmworkers handle tarps at a farm near Moss Landing in October 2024. (Nik Altenberg — Santa Cruz Local file) WATSONVILLE >> After five years of activism from Pajaro Valley residents and others across the state, California residents can now get text and email alerts about pesticide use near their homes, schools and workplaces as part of a SprayDays website that launched this week. Stay informed on Santa Cruz County’s biggest issues. Santa Cruz …

Byanka Santoyo's voice breaks as she explains what SprayDays, California's statewide pesticide reporting system, launched Monday, means to her. "I told my daughter, 'If one day I die, mija, rest assured that this will be on my grave. I want you to know that I fought for you, I fought for the best future, for your family, and for your family's future.'" Santoyo is a community organizer at the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment, one of the …

SprayDays California to provide pesticide alerts, interactive online map

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation recently launched a new program to alert the public about the nearby use of restricted material pesticides. SprayDays California, which is being described as “a first-of-its-kind statewide system,” is designed to deliver transparent, accessible, and timely notifications and information about the use of these pesticides. By signing up on the SprayDays website, users can access an interactive onlin…

California launches a first-ever statewide pesticide notification system.

It’s rare to see activists seeking to restrict pesticides cheering for pesticide regulators. But on Monday, March 24, dozens of activists from all over the state gathered in Shafter, in the Central Valley, to cheer along the California Department of…