To celebrate his first day of retirement, former Santa Barbara County Agricultural Commissioner Bill Gillette went golfing.
“That was kind of weird to do in the middle of the day,” he later told the Sun.
Gillette has worked for the county for 34 years, 16 of which were spent as the agricultural commissioner, the county’s head enforcer of policies made by the state Department of Pesticide Regulation and the Department of Food and Agriculture.
Gillette said the biggest challenges for the county during his time as commissioner were “explaining and enforcing pesticide regulations from the perspective of the public and the farmers” and dealing with invasive species.
Another difficulty, he said, was “the lack of science-based education and an understanding of what’s going on in the ag community among members of the public.”
“[Pesticides and regulations] can be confusing to people, and it can be frightening and threatening,” he said.
For example, a recent threat of the Asian citrus psyllid—a pest that carries a citrus-damaging disease—contaminating California fruit has led the county to start strongly recommending that handlers eliminate all citrus plant parts.
“We know this will increase costs for growers, but we hope the industry will view these added costs in the context of what it would be like to operate in a state completely infested with Asian citrus psyllid,” the county said in a recent press release.
Warnings like these, Gillette said, often make people—farmers and members of the public—worry about whether or not they should use pesticides on their crops.
“It becomes a question of do you treat
it or do you try to live with it and hope that your neighbors can live with it, too?” he said.
Gillette knows plenty about preventing infestations. Under his leadership, the county was able to keep the glassy winged sharpshooter, a large leafhopper insect, out of the grape population for a decade.
Other accomplishments Gillette named were the ability to maintain and enhance county agricultural programs with fewer resources, and helping growers understand regulations and programs.
Gillette said the biggest challenge currently facing the county is—as with every county in the state—budget woes.
“I’d like to think I left them in a positive position where they can survive on what they have. But, of course, a lot of that depends on the state budget,” he said.
And then, don’t forget, there are those other pests, the aforementioned Asian citrus psyllid and the light brown apple moth.
The key to handling a possible insect infestation, Gillette said, is “to be as open as possible about the problem and get the word out as quick as possible. You have to tell people, ‘This is a problem that needs to be taken care of and here are the steps to do it.’”
Now that he’s retired, Gillette said he’s planning on playing more golf and volunteering for a community organization that interests him.
“I have yet to decide which one,” he noted.
This article appears in Dec 17-24, 2009.