Sustainable agriculture promotes the economic viability of local farms and residents’ quality of life while preserving natural resources for future generations’ needs in California. An important component of these sustainability efforts is related to mitigation activities that are essential to prevent the spread of invasive agricultural pests. This work contributes to the security of the food system and helps protect the region’s biodiversity.
The County of San Diego Department of Agriculture, Weights & Measures implements State regulatory programs for the detection and exclusion of invasive insect pests, plant diseases, and weeds that cause economic and environmental harm and supports the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) in enforcing agricultural quarantines to prevent the spread of these invasive pests.
CDFA pest ratings inform county agricultural commissioners, the agricultural industry, and the public of the pests’ potential harm to agriculture and the environment. These ratings also signify the pests’ potential impacts to the residents’ gardens. Finally, these ratings guide the regulatory actions that CDFA and county agricultural commissioners must take to mitigate the spread of these pests.
Below is a list of CDFA pest rating definitions follows:
- A-RATED: Pest or disease that is known to have a detrimental impact on agriculture and the environment and is not known to be established in California.
- B-RATED: Pest or disease that is known to have a detrimental impact on agriculture and the environment and is established in some areas of California.
- C-RATED: Pest or disease that commonly occurs in the agricultural industry and the environment and is found throughout California.
- Q-RATED: Pest or disease requiring a temporary “A” rating pending the determination of a permanent rating. These organisms are usually new to California, or their impacts are unknown but are suspected of being economically harmful to agriculture.
The infographics on the following two pages show the sustainable agriculture efforts in San Diego.