A special thank you to the rice growers, pilots, applicators and PCAs who steward thiobencarb through usage, applications, and recommendations. This season ended with no exceedances. 

We had a high detection number the second week of monitoring, which coincided with a pyrethroid (lambda cyhalothrin) exceedance at the same monitoring site. Additional follow-up is planned with the county agricultural commissioner’s office. 

All total there were eight detections from 70 samples. There were an additional seven samples J-flagged where the result is detected at or greater than the laboratory’s method detection limit (MDL) and less than the minimum reporting level (MRL). The highest detection was at 1.2 µg/L (parts per billion) when the performance goal is 1.5 µg/L in the agricultural drains. All monitoring results at the Sacramento and West Sacramento drinking water intakes were non-detect at a level of <0.2 µg/L.  

The County Agricultural Commissioners, Department of Pesticide Regulation and the Central Valley Water Board add to the stewardship and of managing thiobencarb. However, the true credit goes to the persons using, applying and recommending thiobencarb. Great job all!

For more information, contact the CRC’s Industry Affairs Manager Roberta Firoved at rfiroved@calrice.org or (916) 206-5039.