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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Couple's Farm Falls Victim To Herbicide-Tainted Mulch
  • Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:00:38 -0600


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/10/AR2007071000
334.html?nav=hcmodule

Bitter Harvest In Sperryville
Couple's Farm Falls Victim To Herbicide-Tainted Mulch

By Walter Nicholls
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 11, 2007; F01

For farmer Rachel Bynum and her 2-year-old son, Nicholas, the afternoon of
June 2 started as an idyllic occasion. For the first time, mother and child

harvested vegetables together at the family's Waterpenny Farm in
Sperryville, Va. Bynum and her husband, Eric Plaksin, both 33, sell the
pesticide-free produce from their 10 acres of fields at farmers markets,
through a CSA program and right from the barn.

As she waded into the otherwise healthy-looking zucchini vines, Bynum
noticed that many of the plants had an odd windblown appearance with
uncharacteristic curling leaves. "It looked like maybe the plants were
getting too much water," says Bynum, who has farmed in western Rappahannock

County for eight years. The previous night there had been a much-needed
rain, and the couple was also using a drip irrigation system, with water
pumped from the nearby Thornton River.

As it turns out, the problem wasn't too much water. And the trouble quickly

spread to the tomatoes and eggplant. But it would be two weeks before Bynum

and Plaksin received the test results confirming the culprit: They had
unwittingly poisoned half of their farm fields by using a hay mulch that
was
contaminated with a powerful herbicide.

For Bynum, who is expecting a second child in the fall, walking about the
sloping acreage in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains is now "a farm

tour of doom."

County agriculture extension agent Kenner Love was the first person brought

in to assess the problem. "We didn't expect herbicides because they don't
use them," says Love, who has worked with area farmers for 12 years. "I
suspected a virus, but there was no yellowing of leaves." He sent samples
of
the tomato, squash and potato plants from Waterpenny to Virginia Tech for
analysis. The results: The plants were infected with a "broadleaf plant
growth regulator" -- an herbicide.

But at Waterpenny, they still had no idea where the poison was coming from.

Because the affected fields were fairly sheltered, they ruled out drifting
sprays from neighboring farms. The farmers zeroed in on purchased hay as
the
source when they recognized that the plants without mulch were thriving.
Hay, which can be one species of plant, such as alfalfa, or a combination
of
plants cut from open fields, is normally used as feed and bedding for
animals, not as a mulch for vegetables. At Waterpenny it was used to
suppress weeds and conserve moisture.

Without hesitation, the farmer who sold them 120 round bales said that they

might contain hay from fields that were sprayed with the herbicide Grazon.
He didn't know any consequences from its use. Grazon, a product of Dow
AgroSciences, is sprayed on fields to kill undesirable broadleaf plants; it

contains picloram, a plant growth regulator.

Bynum and Plaksin were not aware that herbicides were used in hay
production.

Dow AgroSciences spokesman Garry Hamlin points out that the Grazon label
states in bold type: "Do not use grass or hay from treated areas or manure
from animals for composting or mulching of desirable susceptible broadleaf
plants." Selling produce contaminated with picloram, which is not rated for

human consumption, is illegal. The company cannot say when the couple can
plant again in the poisoned fields without knowing how much residue there
is
in the soil.

As at all CSA (community-supported agriculture) farms, many different crops

are grown at Waterpenny to satisfy customers who pay an annual membership
fee for a share of the harvest. And it is unusual for a CSA farm to have
herbicide damage because most use organic methods.

"Usually it's a hailstorm that might just kill the broccoli, part of the
crop. It would be more common to have a drought or flooding, insect
infestation or crop viruses," says Guillermo Payet, president of Local
Harvest, a national organization that provides a directory for farmers and
consumers to find each other.

Bynum and Plaksin's conservative estimate is that they have lost 12,000
plants with a harvest worth $80,000. Thus far, the un-mulched fields,
making
up about half of the acreage, do not appear to be contaminated. There will
be broccoli, some root crops, beans, onions, garlic and cabbage. Because
the
fields are separated by 12-foot-wide grassy areas, the likelihood of
contamination to the whole farm is low. Planting more tomatoes and melons
in
uncontaminated fields is still to come this season.

They are working with the hay farmer, who has insurance, to determine
compensation for their losses. When word got out in the close-knit farming
community, 60 people, including many of the couple's 150 CSA shareholders,
started the unpleasant process of removing the 50,000 pounds of wet hay
from
3.5 acres. Results from soil tests on the extent of the contamination are
still to come.

For this season, they are canceling two months of their CSA deliveries and
offering customers a partial or total refund of the full share price of
$475
for 21 weeks. For the time being they will no longer sell at the farmers
market in Warrenton. But they will continue to sell a limited number of
vegetables from the un-mulched fields at markets in Takoma Park and
Charlottesville.

Unanswered questions remain about the long-term prospects for the farm.
Once
all the contaminated hay is out of the fields, they will test and retest
the
soil for traces of the chemical. "But I don't think we have enough
information yet, and we are reading everything we can, contacting pesticide

watch groups," Bynum says. "We may have to retire those fields for a few
seasons."

Even though farmers have a typically small profit margin, and such a
disaster would raise concerns about the farm's survival, Bynum says, "we
are
not scraping by, and this doesn't mean we'll stop farming."

Plaksin says that without the large CSA program to worry about, "we're
looking at this as an opportunity to reevaluate what we're doing. Maybe we
should be smaller. And we're learning about things like herbicides that we
never knew about before."

Waterpenny Farm produce is available at Charlottesville City Market, First
and Water streets, Saturdays, 7 a.m. to noon; Takoma Park Farmers Market,
Carroll and Laurel avenues, Takoma Park, Sundays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and at

the farm, 53 Waterpenny Lane, Sperryville, Va.
540-987-8567.http://www.waterpennyfarm.com.






  • [Livingontheland] Couple's Farm Falls Victim To Herbicide-Tainted Mulch, TradingPostPaul, 07/16/2007

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