If you have ever gone to a farmers’ market, checked out at a grocery store, pumped gas or wondered if that produce was truly organic, you have benefitted from the Dept. of Agriculture, Weights & Measures. While you go about your daily lives, we protect you against the spread of harmful pests, monitor pesticide use, and ensure price accuracy and proper package labeling. 

We stand for a thriving agricultural community, healthy residents and consumer confidence in the weight, quantity and price of things you purchase locally.

As part of the County’s Land Use & Environment Group, we are here to help you thrive and look forward to serving you.  

COVID Red Tier UPDATE- AWM will continue to provide curbside service by appointment to help you with any in-person needs. We are not accepting walk-in customers at our customer service counters at this time.

***NEW*** COVID-19 Vaccine Information

The COVID-19 Vaccination became available for the Food and Agriculture Sector on February 27^th. See the linked information for Agricultural Workers and who to contact, how to determine if you are eligible for the vaccination, and where you can obtain the vaccination. The following links have the necessary information:

COVID-19 Vaccination Update

COVID-19 Vaccination Agricultural Workers

***NEW*** USDA Drought Disaster Designation

On March 5^th  United States Department of Agriculture’s Secretary Thomas Vilsack designated counties within California as primary or contiguous natural disaster areas due to the recent drought. San Diego County was declared a contiguous county eligible to be considered for assistance from Farm Service Agency. The local Farm Service Agency office is located at 900 Canterbury Place, Escondido, CA 92025 and is open the 1^st and 3^rd Thursday of every month from 10 AM to 3PM, they can be reached at 760-347-3675.   Please read the Secretary’s letter below (it can be translated using the google translate feature, the linked document is official copy):

March 5^th

Dear Governor Newsom:

In accordance with 7 CFR 759.5(a), I am designating 50 California counties as primary natural disaster areas due to a recent drought.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (see http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/), these counties suffered from a drought intensity value during the growing season of 1) D2 Drought-Severe for 8 or more consecutive weeks or 2) D3 Drought-Extreme or D4 Drought-Exceptional.

In accordance with section 321(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, additional areas of your state and adjacent states are named as contiguous disaster counties. Enclosed you will find documentation that provides a detailed list of all primary and contiguous counties impacted by this disaster.

A Secretarial disaster designation makes farm operators in primary counties and those counties contiguous to such primary counties eligible to be considered for certain assistance from the Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met. This assistance includes FSA emergency loans. Farmers in eligible counties have 8 months from the date of a Secretarial disaster declaration to apply for emergency loans. FSA considers each emergency loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of production losses on the farm and the security and repayment ability of the operator.

Local FSA offices can provide affected farmers with further information.

Sincerely,

Thomas J. Vilsack

Secretary

***NEW***  Fee Deferral Ending

On May 5, 2020, to help ease the impacts of COVID-19, the County Board of Supervisors voted to defer payment of Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures fees normally due between May and November 2020. Fees associated with Direct Marketing, Hazardous Materials Inventory, Price Verification Registration and Weights & Measures Device Registration will be deferred. The board then again voted in on November 5, 2020 to extend the fee deferral to March 31, 2021.

This fee deferral will be ending on March 31^st and unpaid fees will become due on April 1^st. If you have unpaid fees you will be receiving communication on how to pay these fees and when they will be due. The letters linked below will be sent to you if you have unpaid fees:

Direct Marketing Fees

Hazardous Materials Inventory Fees

Device Registration and Point of Sale Registration Fees

NEW! 2020 Crop Report Questionnaires Available

Please fill out  the 2020 Crop Report Questionnaire and the 2020 Apiary Questionnaire and return to our department by February 28th, 2021.  Instructions are attached to the questionnaires.

NEW! Pesticide Container Recycling Event (JUN 2021)

The County of San Diego Pesticide Regulation Program will be hosting a Pesticide Container Recycling Event on Saturday, June 5th, 2021.  Please see this flyer for more information.  Due to the changing situation with COVID-19, please check our website for updates prior to the event. 

NEW! *** STOP USE*** AGRO GOLD WS/WEEDSLAYER

Please see the California Department of Agriculture’s (CDFA) Notice (linked below) of the statewide quarantine of the product AGRO GOLD WS which is within the box that contains the organic herbicide WEEDSLAYER. CDFA’s State Organic Program has issued a STOP USE on the products.

CDFA SOP Notice to Organic Operations 

NEW! Organic Training Available

UCANR is offering free organic online training to farmers who want to learn organic production practices for California. The program provides a combination of written content, videos and do-it-yourself exercises that allow students to follow along at their own pace and test their grasp of the knowledge. To obtain a link to the training, submit a request at https://ofrf.org/beginning-farmer-training-program.

Nursery License Renewal Late Fees

AWM would like to share some information provided by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) on nursery license fees.  The guidance provides direction on how to avoid a late payment charge when renewing your nursery license.

CDFA Guidance on Nursery License Registration Late Fees

NEW! Find links to the most up to date information for growers and residents on our Citrus Quarantine Program page  ***Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) and Huanglongbing (HLB) Information***

Private Applicator Certification Exam: Schedule Online

Private Applicator Certificate Exams have been temporarily suspended.

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