Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR) and Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network (PAN), in collaboration with the UChicago Data Science Institute, have launched the California People and Pesticides Explorer, a new web tool that puts information on the impacts of agricultural pesticides in the hands of citizens. Mapping state-wide pesticide use data with demographic and geospatial data from the US Census Bureau, the Pesticides Explorer enables users to quantify and chart the effects of pesticide use in California with easily digestible, interactive visualizations.

“This tool opens up California’s extensive data on pesticide use so everyone who is interested—everyday Californians, scientists, researchers, and growers—can understand it,” said CPR Development Director Jane Sellen. “With demographic data overlaid with pesticide use data, you can see who is most impacted and in what ways.”

Since 1990, the state of California has collected some of the most comprehensive pesticide use data in the world as a part of its Pesticide Use Reporting (PUR) program, with data available by crop, geography, application method, and more variables. However, said Susan Paykin, Senior Associate Director of Community-Centered Data Science at the DSI and a lead on the project, “Although this kind of data is publicly available, it’s often unwieldy to use, and not always shown in relation to communities.”

Founded in 1996, the CPR coalition has worked to reform local and state pesticide policy to protect human and environmental health. When CPR and their steering committee member PAN sought to increase visibility into pesticide use, they partnered with the 11th Hour Project Software and Data Science Hub and the Open Spatial Lab at the Data Science Institute. Development of the tool was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the 11th Hour Project, a program of the Schmidt Family Foundation.

CPR and PAN hosted a webinar on Tuesday, May 13 to formally launch the California People and Pesticides Explorer and provide training on how to use the tool. In addition to packaging pesticide use data into an easy-to-use format, the tool offers auxiliary features that let users investigate specific pesticides’ toxicity to humans and the environment. As an example, if an individual were considering moving to a new community in California to start a family, they might turn to the tool to assess the use of pesticides linked to birth defects or asthma there. A researcher exploring causes of rising cancer rates in specific geographies might utilize the tool to understand usage of carcinogenic pesticides in these areas.

The team at DSI was co-led by the Open Spatial Lab’s Technical Lead Dylan Halpern and Program Lead Susan Paykin. “Transparency in research and access to data are important to the DSI’s mission, so we were excited to collaborate with CPR and PAN on this project,” said Paykin.

“This tool translates complex data into insight—and insight into action—accelerating the advocacy efforts of PAN and CPR to support communities most exposed to pesticide use,” said Halpern. “By harmonizing demographic and geospatial datasets, we can better pinpoint where interventions can have the greatest impact on public health.” 

You can check out the tool and learn more here.