Sacramento, CA April 30, 2026 - Pest prevention in California, like so many other elements of life here, isn't quite the same as it is elsewhere. The range and diversity of California agriculture, from its regionally varied growing grounds and climate to its more than 400 different crops and commodities, make our bounty remarkably appetizing for humans - and just as attractive to invasive insects, diseases and other organisms.

Case in point: in 2023-2024, California declared seven separate quarantines for invasive fruit flies, the most ever in a single year - at a cost of more than $208 million by the time the infestations were all eradicated. This period stretched California's Pest Prevention System to its fullest capacity, illustrating the need for a full-scale evaluation of our state's capabilities and challenges when it comes to pest prevention.

To analyze and address the challenges, the Comprehensive Pest Prevention Program Analysis (C3PA) is now complete. The project offers extensive, quantitative proof of the value and effectiveness of our efforts to prevent and address pest incursions - and the need to keep pace with our investments in these critical systems and the tools and personnel required to make the fullest use of our expertise. The project is a partnership between the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association (CACASA). The research team includes experts from the University of California, California State University, CDFA and several other academic and state partners.

"The best investment we can make in our invasive pest system is to prevent infestations from happening in the first place," said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. "We have a robust and comprehensive approach to detect and eradicate infestations when they do make it into our state and into our fields, but it's important to limit the need for these more costly measures by keeping pests out when we can, whether that means maintaining rigorous inspection systems, involving the public and stakeholders through outreach, or finding and shutting down new pathways that give these pests a way in."

"Over the past three decades, the scale and complexity of pest threats have increased dramatically," said Lindsey Carter, Executive Director of the California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association. "The return on investment for pest prevention is already high, but when you factor in the potential losses - not just to agriculture, but to natural ecosystems and urban environments - the case for increased funding becomes overwhelming."

Effective but Constrained

Chiefly, the C3PA analysis concludes that "the cost-effectiveness of pest prevention is very high, but is constrained by systematic underfunding relative to the value it returns to the state and the value (of agricultural commodities) at risk." The project goes on to explain how further preventive planning and investment would strengthen the PPS, protect California's agriculture and natural resources, and plan effectively for a future that presents an increasing rate of new pests and more frequent incursions.

The project establishes the value and importance of perennial pest-exclusion programs such as California's Detector Dog teams working in shipping facilities to detect agricultural materials and associated plant pests and diseases; and its 16 Border Protection Stations that serve as the first line of defense in keeping pests from entering the state via vehicular traffic along major inbound roadways. The report also delves into pest pressures relating to a range of issues including urban farms and community gardens, agricultural tourism, and evolving policy environment around sustainable pest management.

A System Under Increasing Threat

California's Pest Prevention System is under increasing threat. Over the last two to three decades has seen an unprecedented increase in the size and complexity of the pest prevention task. California is protecting an ever more valuable agricultural bounty with a system that requires commensurate upgrades and improvements.

The strain experienced by the system during the 2023-24 fruit fly eradication efforts should be heeded as a warning about the risk of failing to keep pace. The new document considers a broad swath of risks to the system, including: increasing pest incursions, both in number and diversity; budget cuts and resultant staffing shortages; and chronically delayed and curtailed investment in the renewal of infrastructure and technology.

Case Study: The Rise of E-Commerce

High on the list of emerging threats to California's pest prevention system are E-commerce websites that offer plants, soil and other material known to harbor invasive pests. Researchers uncovered that only 16 out of 62 surveyed websites clearly displayed restrictions for shipping plant material to California. The report states, "Major marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, and Etsy have made efforts to ensure these restrictions are clear to consumers, but further outreach is required to ensure that other businesses comply with state regulations." Researchers concluded that most websites outside of the largest platforms fail to properly communicate shipping restrictions, putting agricultural sectors at risk.

The C3PA project's focus on pest prevention is further supported by the recently completed California Agricultural Research & Innovation Roadmap, a blueprint to guide and accelerate scientific discovery, commercialization and real-world adoption of next-generation tools, spearheaded by the California AgTech Alliance. The roadmap includes a section on Integrated Pest and Disease Management as a research priority.

This report identifies future funding levels designed to extend or increase the state's return on investment by directly improving infrastructure, staffing, pest exclusion activities, and other programs. These figures represent only immediate needs or critical shortfalls, not the long-term sustained increase in investment that is needed to maintain program effectiveness and to allow it to keep pace with anticipated changes in pest arrivals and evolving risk pathways.