Pesticide drift a 'Pandora's Box' for horticultural growers

Friday, April 4, 2014

So says a York Region producer who says his raspberries have been decimated by applications from neighbouring cash croppers. And dealing with the different ministries adds to the problem

by DON STONEMAN

There was standing room only for some seminars at the annual horticulture convention in Niagara Falls in February. Meanwhile, just over a dozen growers attended a session on spray drift. For York Region producer Michael Watson, that is a sign that spray drift "is not on the radar" of most horticultural growers, and it should be.

Watson has firsthand experience. Last June, he noticed damage to his raspberry canes late on Father's Day, four days after a neighbouring corn crop was sprayed with what he describes as a "cocktail" of weed killers applied to a field of Roundup Ready corn adjacent to his raspberry patch.

Watson grows horticultural products with his wife Sukyi Finn and sells them from a roadside stand on busy Bathurst Street in Vaughan, north of Toronto. With easy access to a burgeoning urban population, their Front Step Farms is a "destination" for sweet corn and pumpkin buyers in season.

It's maybe not so good for horticultural production because neighbouring farmers are cash croppers. For three years, they have sublet the "back acres" of the farm to a cash crop grower. Watson alleges that drift damage was caused by spray from a third-party applicator and damaged not only the canes of a new raspberry variety he was propagating, but also a crop that was close to being ready to harvest.

"We have been so challenged dealing with the different ministries," Watson said last summer. The Ministry of Environment investigates the spray drift, but isn't part of agriculture's on-farm food safety program. "It's a Pandora's box," Watson says.  

A call to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food to look at the crop resulted in a staffer attending the farm three days later, after much wrangling. Then Watson found that it could be weeks or months before residue testing results are returned from the environment ministry, not helpful to the grower of a crop that needed to be harvested in a few days or weeks. Testing for a chemical spill into the environment gets immediate priority. He describes on-farm food safety as "a dilemma." And testing required the need to know just what was sprayed on that corn field.  (It was Calusta, Primex, Dual and Touchdown.) Those berries rotted on the vine.

"The future is going to get even worse" for horticultural producers, Watson predicts, particularly those stretching production out of traditional areas. In the product development pipeline of agri-chemical companies are field crops that are tolerant to 2,4-D: weed control that is known to volatilize easily. Grapes are particularly susceptible.  

Watson won't name the third-party applicator without advice from his lawyer. He says the raspberry canes he was propagating were a particular variety that produce fruit in late summer and can be harvested as late as November. "We are waiting to know our true damages" before filing a statement of claim against the applicator, says Watson. "The canes are probably damaged for years to come."

Susan Murray, spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, says food safety is a priority and "on request" staff will visit growers to discuss any concerns, and, if necessary, take samples of harvested produce for testing.  Should those tests detect residues above Health Canada's allowable limits, the results are reported to Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

"If they choose, farmers can submit crop samples for residue testing to one of several accredited laboratories in Ontario. A list of Ontario's accredited laboratories, including contact information, can be found on the Standard Council of Canada's website at www.scc.ca/en."

Murray adds that farmers concerned about improperly applied chemicals should contact the Ministry of the Environment which regulates the application of pesticides and herbicides.

The environment ministry responded to a total of 65 reports/incidents involving pesticide drift and/or overspray relating to agricultural operations last year, says spokesperson Kate Jordan. The numbers are similar to reports in previous years. "The local district office follows up to assess the information and to ensure an appropriate action is taken. Responses to incidents are assessed on a case-by-case basis for impacts to human health and the environment. The ministry encourages the public to report all suspected incidents of pesticide drift and/or overspray to local district offices or through the Spills Action Centre."

Watson found out that Purdue University's Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Agricultural Communications departments have designed a website – driftwatch.org – to help pesticide applicators and speciality crop growers prevent and manage drift effects. It offers a map where specialty crop growers can register what they are growing and make pesticide applicators aware.

There are maps for Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska and Wisconsin. In these states, growers can register information on the location and ownership of beehives, for example. There's nothing like that here in Ontario, Watson says, and there should be.  BF