# ‘Enough is Enough’: Ralliers gather outside Driscoll’s to demand end to pesticide use > Source: > Published: 2026-06-19 13:43:32+00:00 **Getting your** [Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...WATSONVILLE — Throughout [much of 2025](https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/12/31/year-in-review-pajaro-valley-activists-raise-awareness-of-pesticide-use-near-schools/), different environmental health groups focused a lot of their energy on stopping the use of pesticides in the Pajaro Valley. These ranged from rallies to presentations of studies to hunger strikes. A lot of the attention has been placed on Driscoll’s, the Watsonville-headquartered corporation that is the largest berry company in the world. On Wednesday, a press conference was held across the street from the company’s headquarters to urge Driscoll’s to stop spraying organophosphates near schools. The spirit of the conference was summed up in its name: “Enough is Enough.” Driscoll’s partners with more than 900 independent farmers to grow its berries, which are sold throughout the United States and more than 40 other countries. While Driscoll’s sells a line of organic berries, many of its berries are grown in fields that still have pesticides sprayed, although the company has said its pesticide use is done in adherence to the guidelines of the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration and other agencies. For years, activists have pointed the blame at pesticides for the elevated rates of childhood cancer in Santa Cruz County, [which ranked fourth among pediatric cancer incidence rates for children under 15 from 2018 to 2022](https://statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov/incidencerates/index.php?age=016&areatype=county&cancer=516&race=00&ruralurban=0&sex=0&statefips=06&type=incd), per the National Cancer Institute. However, Driscoll’s pointed to [a June study](https://www.santacruzhealth.org/ChildhoodCancerStudy.aspx) from the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency with input from the University of California San Francisco’s Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry and the California Department of Public Health’s California Cancer Registry, which found that childhood cancer rates in the county were not significantly higher than rates seen throughout California. Specifically, the study identified 20 childhood and adolescent cancer cases in South County — which includes the Pajaro Valley — from 2018 to 2022, which the report’s authors noted was “consistent with what would be expected based on the area’s population size and established cancer rates.” The study also noted that the analyses were not designed to determine cause, including pesticide exposure or other risk factors. “This review could not assess whether those with cancer in South County had any exposure to pesticides and cannot establish any causes of these cancers,” the agency wrote. “Cancer registry data can track trends over time, but they cannot determine the exact causes of cancer.” However, the agency wrote that the findings should be considered alongside existing pesticide exposure research in which links to specific childhood cancers have been established. Driscoll’s CEO Soren Bjorn said in a statement that, “The County’s update is important because it helps set the record straight. At the same time, it leaves an important question unanswered: Why are childhood cancer rates higher across Santa Cruz County overall? The public deserves to know more about what is actually happening with regard to this deeply concerning situation in our county. Families deserve answers to that question.” In a [report](https://www.pesticidereform.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Pajaro-Valley-Pesticides-2.pdf) distributed by Safe Ag Safe Schools and Californians for Pesticide Reform, the authors felt the study “appears to us to assume ‘established’ horrors continue, so that’s fine. Our perspective is that it is not fine.” The report provided data on local health rates and other areas of concern, including the Pajaro Valley Unified School District having more than 1.7 million pounds of fumigants applied within its boundaries — more than any other school district in the state — and [high concentrations of the carcinogenic 1, 3-Dichloropropene](https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2024_amn_report_2025.pdf) recorded at the Ohlone Elementary School air monitor at levels more than twice the lifetime cancer risk threshold established by the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. The press conference made five primary demands: increasing the buffer zone for pesticide applications around schools from a quarter mile to 1 mile, requiring notices of intent for all organophosphate pesticide application approvals, posting the notices of intent online in real time, working with the county agricultural commissioner and California Department of Pesticide Regulation to implement pilot projects with alternative farming methods and phasing out organophosphates and fumigants. Local activist Claudia Arnold said her mother and grandparents worked in agricultural fields, so she had a lot of respect for farmworkers. Having children of her own made her concerned for their health. “Pajaro Valley children are among the most directly in harm’s way of toxic pesticide exposure of anywhere in California,” she said. Maria Ortiz, a member of the Watsonville Brown Berets, acknowledged that while eliminating pesticides might not fix all health issues, it could help a lot. “Given the best available data, we think it’s time — long past time, really — to phase out some of the worst groups of pesticides, fumigants and organophosphates,” she said. Ortiz also acknowledged that Driscoll’s was a leader in organic berry production and could move further in that direction. “They and other berry growers in the Pajaro Valley could use only organic farming methods near schools,” she said. “They know how to grow organic. They can do it near schools, and they should be doing it near schools.” Gabe Medina, a Pajaro Valley Unified School District board trustee, said the chemicals being applied are banned in other countries. “The same poison our state allows over our young adults are illegal in other countries where citizens are valued more than we are valued here,” he said. Araceli Gonzales, a Cabrillo College student and mother, said she lives in an area where pesticides are sprayed constantly. She has developed asthma in the past year and is worried about the air quality her children are being exposed to. “My 9-year-old daughter goes to Amesti School,” she said. “That school is surrounded by fields where pesticides are used, and I’m concerned about pesticides used near schools where our children are learning, playing and are just being kids.” The speeches were closed out by Omar Dieguez, who [completed a 30-day hunger strike in September 2025](https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/10/18/pajaro-valley-activists-reflect-on-monthlong-hunger-strike/) to protest local pesticide use. He encouraged the crowd to turn to face Driscoll’s and shout “Si se puede” and “Stop poisoning our children.” “For too long, our families have been told not to worry,” he said. “For too long, our concerns have been dismissed. But we are not imagining what we see. We see the fields next to our schools, we see the pesticide notices, we hear the stories from farmworkers who have suffered exposure, we hear the stories from parents who are worried about their children’s health, we hear from teachers concerned about what students are breathing, and we have seen the photographs, the illness and the scars that many workers carry after years of exposure.” Dieguez made a simple demand: “If these chemicals are safe, then show us the science.” Driscoll’s has come under increased scrutiny on social media in the past month over the health of its berries, stemming from a [May 12 post on the consumer watchdog blog Mamavation](https://mamavation.com/food/pfas-pesticides-driscolls-strawberries.html), in which the organization tested two packages of Driscoll’s strawberries and found 12 instances of pesticide residue on the conventionally farmed berries and none on the organic ones. This has [prompted debates about the purported link to cancer and whether the sample size was large enough to draw conclusions](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/driscolls-strawberries-toxins-cancer/). Brie Reiter Smith, Driscoll’s vice chair, published a full-page letter in the June 16 and 17 editions of the Sentinel defending the company as a community-driven and charitable business while stressing the need to “look at all the publicly available data” regarding local cancer rates before making assumptions. “The childhood cancer rate in the broader Santa Cruz County is well above the state average,” she wrote. “Why aren’t we all working to understand what’s causing this devastating situation? Rigor around the data on a topic this important must matter.” Reiter Smith also wrote that Driscoll’s is investing in ways to reduce reliance on conventional pesticides and expand organic production, although she noted that the transition is not always efficient or affordable for all growers. “Every year, we continue expanding our organic berry business by partnering with growers willing to make that transition,” she wrote. “In fact, we often have more organic berries than the market can absorb and end up selling some portion under our conventional label. This is an investment in expanding the organic category.” In light of the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency study, Driscoll’s posted an FAQ on its website regarding pesticide use and organic production, which can be accessed at [Driscolls.com/Our-Santa-Cruz-Community](https://www.driscolls.com/Our-Santa-Cruz-Community).