2026 Department of Pesticide Regulation Sustainable Pest Management Grants Program

Purpose

To promote safer, more sustainable pest management practices in California, the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) annually funds projects that advance sustainable pest management (SPM) practices through integrated pest management (IPM) research, knowledge, tools, outreach, and implementation in agricultural, urban, or wildland settings.

Description

DPR's SPM Grants Program supports projects that advance sustainable pest management practices through IPM research, knowledge, tools, outreach, and implementation in agricultural, urban, or wildland settings. Projects should focus on reducing impacts to human health or the environment from pesticides of high regulatory interest. The 2026 SPM Grants Program is particularly seeking proposal applications that also address one or more of the following priority topic areas: Weed management Rodenticide use Fumigant use Use of pesticides that are of high regulatory interest (based on DPR’s Pesticide Use Reporting data) or are present on DPR’s Continuous Evaluation and Mitigation Update report Two or more of the three sustainability pillars in the SPM Roadmap: Human Health and Social Equity Environmental Protections Economic Vitality This year, DPR invites projects with budgets ranging from $50,000 to $1,000,000 to apply. Applicants may include (but are not limited to) entities such as government and tribal agencies, universities, colleges, consultants, pest control businesses, commodity groups, and nonprofit organizations. For information about the application, review, and notification processes, please visit the SPM Grants webpage. Principal investigators may submit a maximum of two proposals per year. Pest Management Advisory Committee (PMAC) members may apply, but they must follow the rules regarding conflict of interest in the PMAC Charter. All applicants and associated project personnel must meet DPR’s eligibility requirements that can be found in the 2026 SPM Grants Solicitation. For examples of past funded projects, please visit our funded Alliance Grants and funded Research Grants webpages. Keywords: Agriculture, Agricultural Commodity, Agricultural Crops, Agronomy, Air Quality, Automation, Bacteria, Bactericide, Climate Change, Community Health, Cover Crops, Cropping System, Crops, Ecology, Ecosystem, Emissions, Fauna, Fertility, Field Sanitation, Flora, Fruits, Fumigant, Fungi, Fungicide, Herbicide, Horticulture, Housing, Insect Pests, Insecticide, Integrated Pest Management, Irrigation, Lakes, Land Management, Laws and Regulations, Machinery, Mating Disruption, Miticide, Natural Enemies, Nuts, Oceans, Pathogens, Personal Protective Equipment, Pest, Pest Management , Pesticide, Pesticide Use, Plant Disease, Plant Protection, Pollinator, Pollution, Reduced-Risk, Rivers, Rodenticide, Soil Health, Streams, Sustainable, Training, Urban Pest Management, Vegetables, Vertebrate Pests, Virus, Volatile Organic Compounds, Water, Water Quality, Watershed, Weeds, Wildlands, Worker Health and Safety