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A widely used agricultural pesticide that California environmental officials have said has been linked to brain damage in children will be banned after next year under an agreement reached with the manufacturer, state officials announced Wednesday.

Under the deal, all California sales of chlorpyrifos will end on Feb. 6, 2020, and growers will have until the end of 2020 to exhaust their supplies.

The pesticide is used on numerous crops in the nation's largest agriculture-producing state, including alfalfa, almonds, citrus, cotton, grapes and walnuts.

State regulators have said it has been linked to health defects in children, including brain impairment, as well as to illnesses in others with compromised immune systems.

"For years, environmental justice advocates have fought to get the harmful pesticide chlorpyrifos out of our communities," Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement after the deal was announced. "Thanks to their tenacity and the work of countless others, this will now occur faster than originally envisioned. This is a big win for children, workers and public health in California."

When California announced earlier this year it was moving toward banning the pesticide the state's environmental secretary, Jared Blumenfeld, said it was doing so because the federal government was allowing it to remain on the market.