tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36142811.post6287797721621742255..comments2024-01-14T10:21:28.397-06:00Comments on Genuine Faux Farm: Legislation - Let's Get This DoneRob Fauxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03633049985565787351noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36142811.post-6325547957108643442015-03-03T11:39:21.302-06:002015-03-03T11:39:21.302-06:00Here is what Rob sent to each member of the commit...Here is what Rob sent to each member of the committee today:<br />=========================<br /><br />My name is Rob Faux, owner and operator of the Genuine Faux Farm near Tripoli, Iowa. Our farm has been in operation since 2005 and we are a diverse operation focusing on vegetable crops, poultry and fruit. We have opted to certify organic and we rely on pollinators for many of our crops.<br /><br />In 2012, an aerial applicator flew over the western half of our farm with the nozzles on. Lorsban, Sniper and Stratego were directly applied to these portions of our farm, hitting our turkey and hen flocks, our high tunnel production area and one of our vegetable fields. In addition to this, I was personally coated with these chemical while working outdoors, our bee hives were terminated and some of our outbuildings were in this flight path.<br /><br />We followed the processes and procedures necessary to deal with this situation to the best of our abilities and within the extent of the laws of that time. In the end, we had to destroy all produce from this area for the remainder of the season (July 27 to the end of the year), we could not sell eggs for over two months and we had to overstress pastures in our rotation by moving our flocks off of the sprayed areas.<br /><br />I would like to express our support for SSB 1221 at this time.<br /><br />The Pesticide Bureau treated us with respect and did as well as we feel they could do given their current staffing and funding. However, discussions with many other persons who have experienced chemical misapplications tell us that many fail to follow through with reporting due to accessibility to the reporting system. In short, the current system suppresses reporting. A better reporting system and encouragement to use that system would give us the data necessary to show that chemical misapplication is a serious problem that has only gotten worse over the past ten years. <br /><br />Further, we were forced to send our own lab reports to a private lab in order to ascertain the extent of the problem. We were informed that results from the Pesticide Bureau would take 6-8 months (which is about what it ended up being). This is not sufficient when a person is trying to determine whether any of a potentially affected crop is edible. We collected our own samples (with direction from the Pesticide Bureau representative) and sent them to a private lab in Oregon. A week and over $1500 later, we had results that showed us what we had to destroy and what we could still harvest.<br /><br />Quick and efficient lab results are key for many producers in cases such as ours. The chemical misapplication occurred July 27. Of the three chemicals misapplied, Lorsban has a 40 day setback rating for bell peppers. In other words, this chemical is rated to allow harvest of bell peppers 40 days after application. Thus, September 6 would be the earliest we could have expected to harvest crops that had Lorsban residue. However, most chemicals, such as Stratego and Sniper have no ratings for fresh vegetables. In other words, they are not intended by the companies that synthesize them to be used on crops such as those we grow and application to these crops deems them unsafe for consumption. Therefore, it is vital to be able to ascertain whether food crops, such as the ones we grow, are safe to be distributed. Without sufficient testing procedures in place, operations such as ours are forced to destroy crops simply to avoid the potential liability.<br /><br />Please consider passing SSB 1221 through the committee.<br /><br />Thank you for your time.<br /><br />Rob FauxRob Fauxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03633049985565787351noreply@blogger.com