Pesticide drift costing specialty crops their organic certification; leading to big financial losses

Pesticide drift is costing organic farmers thousands of dollars in lost product, Steve Karnowski reports for The Associated Press. The problem occurs when herbicides, insecticides and fungicides sprayed on crops from neighboring farms drift over to organic farms. Once organic crops are tainted with pesticides, they lose their organic certification. (AP photo by Charlie Neibergall: Iowa farmer Andrew Dunham checks out his asparagus crop, which lost its organic certification because of pesticide drift) 

Central Iowa organic farmers Andrew and Melissa Dunham say pesticide drift cost organic certification for their asparagus patch, resulting in losses of $74,000 over three years, Karnowski writes. Melissa told him, "We're a certified organic farm—except for our asparagus."

Andrew Moore, executive director of the National Agricultural Aviation Association,  said "better pilot training and sprayer technology have led to significant reductions in pesticide drift," Karnowski writes. "The association offers a program across the country on safety and drift issues. (Moore) said it contributed to a 26 percent drop in confirmed drift instances between when it debuted in 1999 and 2003 alone."

"But it's hard for crop dusters to avoid vulnerable farms if they don't know where they are," Karnowski writes. "Enter Driftwatch, which Purdue University launched in 2008. Producers can register their farms, while applicators can check the website's interactive map and sign up for email notifications. Twelve states and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan are part of DriftWatch, while Iowa and some other states maintain their own registries." (Read more)