

Image: A CC-licensed photo by Pink Sherbet Photography.

If this news alert from the Environmental Working Group is to be believed, The CA Dept. of Food and Agriculture has awarded $180,000 in federal funds to finance an agribusiness-chemical industry plan to combat its critics, which include various health, consumer and organic farming advocates who have campaigned against overuse of pesticides on food crops (including, it should be noted, The Environmental Working Group).

California officials announced last Friday (Sept. 17) that the Alliance for Food and Farming would receive $180,000 to "correct the misconception that some fresh produce items contain excessive amounts of pesticide residues." The state press release added that the grant would go to rebut "claims by activist groups about unsafe levels of pesticides [that] have been widely reported in the media for many years, but have largely gone uncontested. … The goal is to generate more balanced media reporting and change public perception about the safety of produce when it comes to pesticide residues."