Illegal Parking

The farmer renting the land next to us has parked his 18-wheel truck on a strip of our property.  It has sat there for a week.  This compacts our soil and throws Todd into a rage.    Hoisted on the truck is a tank of Roundup, the most popular herbicide out here.  Most of the corn and soybeans are “Roundup ready” which means they, thanks to scientists, have the genes to resist effects of this chemical.  The effects, of course, meaning plant destruction.  I forget how roundup actually works and will ask Todd to tell me the story later, after he has cooled off from this latest infringement (the parking of the truck).

Last year this same farmer who is probably a really nice guy was spraying chemicals very close to us on a windy day, so we confronted him and snapped photos of the label on the tank, the photos I included here above and below.  Todd has had more pleasant encounters with him since, but we don’t think it has erased his image of us as crazy angry people.  Oh well!
The truth is that our crops are not Roundup ready.   And other chemicals he might be spraying are toxic to breathe. 

Farmers who spray are legally counseled to play nice by not spraying when there is a certain amount of wind.  We have the supposed advantage in court if anything were to happen to our crops but this not something we’d like to test.

Two more complaints:

• Certified organic farmers, by law, have to sacrifice tillable ground to form a 25-ft buffer between them and the land of toxic chemicals.
• While conventional farmers receive money every year in subsidies, organic farmers have to pay a third-party certifier every year to continue claiming organic,

Three heartening thoughts:

• More people are lobbying government on behalf of small organic farmers.
• More consumers are buying organic produce from their small, local farms.
• Merle did not kill the chicken she had in her mouth today.

Happily clad in a new apron today,
Julia