PROGRAMS :: The Tree Crops Projects

Improving the environmental future of the Feather River Basin

Project Overview

The Environmentally Responsible Management Practices for Tree Crops in the Feather River Basin program focuses on outreach and demonstration to reduce organophosphate pollution in the Lower Feather River and Sutter Bypass, as well as developing and increasing the adoption of sound production practices that improve environmental impacts of orchards in the Southern Sacramento Valley.

Project partners include UC Cooperative Extension, UC Integrated Pest Management Program, UC Davis Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, and the San Francisco Estuary Institute.

Program features

• Focusing on one-on-one and small group meetings between farmers, farm advisors, and pest control advisors (PCA’s), the Tree Crops program is putting into practice proven and innovative methods for reducing the negative impacts of organophosphates and other pesticides.
• Outreach includes articles in Farm Advisor Newsletters, local newspapers, Public Service Announcements and video presentations for local cable broadcast, pest management fact sheets and on-farm demonstrations.
• Data is gathered and interpreted using geographic information systems, Pesticide Use Reports and grower surveys in order demonstrate to tree crop growers that environmentally sound practices work.

Program goals

• Reduce organophosphate pollution in the Lower Feather River and Sutter Bypass resulting from storm water run-off from orchards in the dormant season, particularly prune and peach orchards while preventing other pesticides, such as pyrethroids, from becoming a problem in the future.
• Reduce in-season pollution of waterways due to irrigation run-off and spray drift from orchards including prunes, peaches, almonds and walnuts.
• Develop innovative, environmentally and economically sound production practices to improve environmental impacts of orchards in the Southern Sacramento Valley.
• Strengthen relationships between growers and their pollution prevention resources through outreach designed to show how environmentally sound production practices can be cost-effective.
• Focus program activities and resources to reach the under-served East Indian grower community.

This project has received support through a grant from the California State Water Resources Control Board with funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Federal Non-point Source Pollution Control Program (Clean Water Act Section 319).

Communicating with the Tree Crops program:
contact: Mark Cady
mark@caff.org