Prime Time International has abandoned 250 acres of bell peppers in Ventura County to pepper weevil, taking more than $4 million in production losses and cutting 150 jobs — the worst infestation in the company's history.

CEO Mike Way laid out those numbers in a letter to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, urging faster approval of isocycloseram, a broad-spectrum insecticide marketed by Syngenta as Plinazolin. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency registered the product last November for use in various food crops, and it is available in most states. California's separate review has no estimated completion date.

The stakes extend beyond Ventura. Prime Time farms about 1,300 acres of red, yellow and green peppers in the county, and Way says the weevil has already infested fields in Kern and Orange counties. He fears it will reach the company's next harvest region in Riverside County.

Pepper harvest shifts to the Coachella Valley in November, and growers expect the pest to migrate with it. "We are taking all precautions to try and keep the weevil from the Coachella Valley," Way said in an email.

Resistance drives spray costs higher

In the Salinas Valley, growers report significant yield loss from diamondback moth in brassica crops and artichoke plume moth in artichokes. The economics are deteriorating on two fronts: resistance and control costs.

Diamondback moth has developed resistance to numerous insecticides with different modes of action, forcing more frequent applications and driving up input costs for what growers describe as minimal control. University of California pest specialists describe the damage mechanism: larvae eat small holes in leaves, feed at the growing points of young plants, and chew floral stalks and flower buds. In extreme cases, fields farmed for weeks or months get disked under or become economically nonviable.

The artichoke plume moth is "primarily a problem where artichokes are grown as perennials, and thus is mainly a problem in California's Central Coast," according to the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program.

Salinas Valley grower Ryan Kelly said damage this summer varied sharply by area. "There's yield loss up to complete, or in the 70% to 80% range, which would cause a loss of the field," Kelly said, "but it's varying levels from moderate to extremely heavy."

"You try to selectively place your crops, but you can only do so much of that," he said.

Kelly noted the regional disparity in access: "You can use it right now in Arizona, and you can — and we are — using it on our crops in Mexico."

DPR: no timeline, but a required comment period

DPR spokesperson Juvenio Guerra said the review's pace reflects the evaluation itself, not delay for its own sake.

"The department's scientific evaluation ensures that the product's use is protective of human health and the environment and is specific to the use sites listed on the labels submitted for review," Guerra said in an email.

"It is worth noting that, after we post any proposed decision, there is a required 30-day public comment period," Guerra said. "We must work through any comments received, and the timeframe depends on the number and complexity of those comments."

Monterey County Farm Bureau Executive Director Norm Groot said his organization maintains continual contact with DPR on the registration and noted that a field trial for isocycloseram ran recently in the area.

Federal approval under legal challenge

The product's availability in California also depends on the federal registration surviving court. Earthjustice and other environmental groups are suing to reverse the EPA's approval. They classify isocycloseram as a per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance — a "forever chemical" — a characterization the EPA disputes. The groups also argue the insecticide threatens bees and wildlife.

"Approval of this dangerous pesticide spotlights how the industry's puppet masters running the EPA chemicals office are making a mockery of chemical oversight," said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "We're going to fight like hell to make sure these forever pesticides aren't allowed to poison our grandchildren's grandchildren."

The EPA says its isocycloseram registrations rest on human health and ecological risk assessments plus a biological evaluation under the Endangered Species Act, though the agency acknowledges risks to pollinators, birds and mammals in some circumstances.

For coastal vegetable growers, the math is straightforward: lost acreage, triple-digit job cuts and 70-80% yield losses on one side; an approved-but-unavailable tool on the other. With DPR offering no timeline and the federal registration contested in court, California growers face at least one more season managing resistant pests with the chemistry they already have.