Negative publicity surrounding the use of nematicides and other pesticides and subsequent environmental problems has had visible effects on agriculture in California.
Crop loss in spite of the use of available alternatives has been documented particularly following the suspension of use of Telone II for air pollution.
One supermarket chain has initiated a program testing conventional produce for the presence of chemical residues and posts signs stating which produce has been tested.
The registration of "natural" products has been put on a fast track and such products have received registration within a year of submission compared to more than ten years for new chemicals.
Research within UC Departments of Nematology has shifted dramatically away from development of new chemicals toward nonchemical methods.
The impact on small farmers with nematode infested fields who have less opportunity to shift crops among different fields than do large farming corporations has been devastating to some families.
One processing tomato corporation has prohibited its growers from using certain chemicals. This has forced increased and repeated use of nematode resistant tomatoes in the same field. The finding of fields with resistance breaking populations of nematodes is increasing.
There is an increasing trend for growers to farm land across the border in Baha California or Oregon rather than in California.
As an extension of this practice, at least one bulb growing corporation which farms land in both California and Oregon alternates crops between the two states. One year bulbs grown for cut flowers are grown in Oregon which allows use of several nematicides not permitted in California. The bulbs are then dug in the fall and transferred to a field in California for the following growing season, while those grown in California are transferred to Oregon for the next season.