Catch my drift?

With a gust of wind, an Iowa crop duster can squash an organic farm 18

Crop dusterA crop duster in action.Photo: Roger Smith via FlickrGrinnell Heritage Farm is 152 years old. Andrew Dunham is the fifth generation of his family to work this land about 50 miles east of Des Moines. He is a direct descendant of Josiah Grinnell, founder of the town and the man Horace Greeley once famously quoted as having said, “Go west, young man, go west.” Andrew and his wife Melissa are a few months shy of receiving their formal certification as an organic farm.

Across the road, due north of their land, is a field of corn that is managed by the nearby Monsanto seed corn plant. In Iowa and anywhere commodity corn is grown, it is common practice around this time of year to use chemicals to control fungus. Often this is accomplished via the use of aerial application, commonly referred to as cropdusting. On July 6th, a rustic-looking old biplane swooped in to spray Monsanto’s field. To put it mildly, the pilot’s bombardiering skills were not what one would hope.

Dunham’s crew was in the field picking broccoli and spinruts (“turnip” backwards—a Japanese form of the root vegetable). They witnessed the plane as it failed to shut off its spray mechanism in time, and the fungicide drifted into their tree planting and hay field. “The hay ground is in the third year of transition and would have become organically certified on September 1st,” Andrew said. Now, probably not.

You’d think that this would be a clear-cut cause of action, as the legal folks would put it. But the clever folks at Monsanto hire the crop dusters as contractors, and they in turn use a corporate shell with no assets, so when something like this happens and a victim sues, they simply file bankruptcy and then form a new corporation.

Iowa is the single most radically altered landscape in the country. No state has changed more since the arrival of European settlers, and today the land is heavily “mono-cropped.” Nature abhors a lack of diversity, but pathogens love it so farmers respond with more and stronger chemicals to fight off the bugs and weeds and fungi. No one owns the airspace, so planes can fly over any land they choose. Even if the pilots are incredibly accurate, Iowa is a windy place (thus the massive increase in wind energy production here in recent years). Drift is practically inevitable.

Last month in Mississippi, the Clarksdale Press-Register ran a story about the problem of chemical drift. They spoke to a pilot:

Bob Howard, owner of Howard Flying Service, says crop dust pilots like himself are often unfairly singled out as the culprits of drift damage. Howard points out many farmers apply herbicides and pesticides from ground rigs, which if done in high winds, is also susceptible to cause drift injury.

The risk of dusting an off-target field with Roundup is something Howard says is always in the back of his mind when working.

“If everything was Roundup Ready it would be the greatest thing in the world,” Howard said. “If they would all go to Roundup Ready or all go back to conventional farming it would sure be a lot easier on us.”

I’m not sure I would even know where to start with this guy, but let’s try the part where he says that the risk is something that’s “always in the back of his mind.” The back? It’s stunning that someone so obviously shortsighted was able to obtain a pilot’s license. His apathy toward his community and flagrant self-centered simple-mindedness are indicative of the unconscious conspiracy to which so many are a party. They have all been bamboozled into believing in “Better living through chemistry.” So much so, in fact, that the methods most farmers have used for a mere few decades are called “conventional,” and the few who practice farming as it was done for millennia are the outliers. Monsanto’s website even claims that they are “Growing yield sustainably.”

Farmers like Andrew Dunham can do little more than stand in their contaminated fields in stunned silence as Monsanto’s contracted crop dusters continue to fly in the face of logic. But Dunham and his family still manage to produce excellent food. In defiance of negligent crop dusters, here’s a simple and delicious recipe from the Heritage Farm newsletter.

Kale with olives
1 bunch kale, tough stems removed and leaves
chopped
2-4 Tbsp olive oil
Ground sea salt and black pepper
½ cup olives, chopped
Red pepper flakes and lemon wedges, optional

Simmer the kale in a skillet in about 4 cups boiling water. Add salt and stir the greens until tender, about 10-15 minutes. Drain the leaves, toss with the olive oil and add the olives, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Serve hot with lemon wedges.

Kurt Michael Friese is chef/owner of Devotay in Iowa City, serves on the Slow Food USA Board of Directors, and is editor-in-chief of the magazine Edible Iowa River Valley. His new book, A Cook’s Journey: Slow Food in the Heartland, was published in August 2008. He lives with his wife Kim in rural Johnson County.

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  1. tismeinaz Posted 6:54 pm
    16 Jul 2009

    I still don't see why Monsanto can't be sued.  They own the land being dusted and they hired the company to do the dusting.  Maybe it is time to take care of these problems the French way?!?

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  2. veritone Posted 10:19 pm
    16 Jul 2009

    I find myself scratching my head wondering what you mean by "The French Way." Would that be "Viva La Revolution," or "Viva La Guillotine"?

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  3. El Dragón's avatar

    El Dragón Posted 11:22 pm
    16 Jul 2009

    Tismeinaz means that we need a few Jose Boves. Maybe some activists need to take matters into their own hands with Monsanto's GMO seed beds. Do a bit of anti-farming.  ;)   

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  4. Mica V Posted 12:26 pm
    17 Jul 2009

    Here is a little more background on this.Mr. Dunham is a neighbor of ours, with his farm adjacent to one of our seed production facilities. As sometimes happens between neighbors, we had an unfortunate issue arise.  The pilot who performed the crop dusting was spraying our farm plots. After becoming aware of the incident, the pilot self-reported the event to officials at the Iowa Department of Agriculture. The Dept. of Ag is currently conducting an investigation.We contacted both the farmer and the applicator to understand what happened. We are hopeful that after the Dept. of Ag completes the investigation, we can reach an amicable resolution.Many farms of different types can and do co-exist - conventional, organic, biotech-all across the country. We will work with Mr. Dunham to make sure both farms can continue to operate in the manner of their choice.  Mica Veihman
    Monsanto Company

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  5. plantqueenie Posted 12:40 pm
    17 Jul 2009

    Interesting article... although I didn't appreciate the harsh tone regarding the pilot.  These pilots are highly trained individuals, the maneuvers and multi-tasking they must do as a cropduster is nothing short of a stunt pilot.  While he may not be as educated in the harmful effects of the chemicals used on the crops, I don't think it's fair to insult the guy's intelligence.  He does have a point regarding drifting of chemicals that are sprayed from ground machines... crop dusters get reeeeeally low to the ground while dusting - and the difference between the elevation of the plane and some of the gargantuan equipment used on farms these days really isn't that far.  Especially on a windy day.

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  6. sanderson508 Posted 12:53 am
    18 Jul 2009

    "Especially on a windy day"...if he were intelligent he should have noticed it was windy and postponed the dusting.    On the other hand maybe he was operating as instructed by Monsanto and had no choice.   They are just another coprorate giant with no concern for anything beyond next quarters dividend.    No morals, no conscience, large level of untempered greed.   Of course the corporation is legally clear, they have an entire department of lawyers keeping them "clean".   Bet they use off shore accounts to avoid paying tax on profits too.  

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  7. Tasermons Partner Posted 4:09 pm
    18 Jul 2009

    Care to be alittle more specific on Monsanto's contractual (or other) regulations/agreements with crop-dusters concerning wayward spraying and other crop-dusting incidents?Does the company have it's own own personal criteria in the contracts for weather conditions when spraying?  Buffer zones?  Pilot experience?  Monitoring? In other words, anything that goes beyond current public law/regulation and individual, unregualted pilot discretion?Does your company take any specific steps that others would not or are not required to when it comes to crop-dusting (other than possible insurance coverage, of course)?

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  8. Delay And Deny's avatar

    Delay And Deny Posted 9:51 pm
    18 Jul 2009

    Turnip spelled backwards is pinrut, not spinrut.So the plural would be pinruts.

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  9. floydyouman Posted 7:46 am
    19 Jul 2009

    Monsanto doesn't own the land. They contract with local farmers to grow the crop.The article is correct is saying that the plane/sprayer is hired as a contractor, but the article brings a incorrect conclusion as to why. The whole industry (including individual farmers) contracts with individual/small business aerial sprayers. These planes move through the country to where their services are needed depending on the crop/time of year. Financially, it would not make since for Monsanto or any farmer to own their own planes to spray their crop. 

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  10. fauxcult Posted 7:17 pm
    19 Jul 2009

    "These pilots are highly trained individuals,"
    APPARENTLY NOT HIGHLY TRAINED ENOUGH. Seriously, not knowing whose crop you are over-flying and/or not being cognizent enough of your position to know when to shut off the nozzle -- does not speak well for the pilot's training/attentiveness.  This wasn't a case of wind-drift.  The pilot overflew and/or did not shut off the spray when it should have been. 

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  11. splashy's avatar

    splashy Posted 11:47 am
    20 Jul 2009

    Therefore the laws need to be changed, so that organic farmers like in the article have some kind of recourse when their livlihood is damaged by these practices. It is definitely unacceptable this way, where a corporation can tromp on anyone they like without any punishment.

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  12. splashy's avatar

    splashy Posted 11:55 am
    20 Jul 2009

    Actually, it's Monsanto that should be liable. The laws need to be changed so they are.It seems like we just can't get away from their touch on our food supply, can we.

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  13. justlou Posted 12:38 pm
    20 Jul 2009

    The midwest is just one big corn/soy factory.  Laws regulating spray drift across property lines are significantly and blatantly ignored by both aerial and ground applicators.   Last year about this same time I complained about an aerial applicator spraying fungicide on field corn growing on the edge of a central IL town.  At low elevations, the pilot was making his turns directly over tens of homes in the town.  For what?  Risking the lives of the town's inhabitants for a few more bushels of corn per acre?  This represents nothing but warped values of the farmer and the spray pilot as well as the regulating authorities who allow this practice to happen fairly often with little legal restriction.  Surprisingly, no one in the town registered any complaints.  The people have largely accepted the domineering ways of big ag.  I respect the organic grower in this article for standing his ground.      

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  14. Storm Dragon Posted 2:17 pm
    22 Jul 2009

    A similar case was recently reported here in California.  Several workers were harvesting onions on an organic farm when they were exposed to toxic chemicals drifting from a neighboring farm, and required emergency treatment.  I have not yet heard what the effect will be on the farm's certification, but the effect on the health of the workers, (one of whom is pregnant), is certainly cause for concern.

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  15. JoytotheWorld Posted 6:29 am
    24 Jul 2009

    Direct question to Mica (Monsanto)...This could be construed as a convenient way to put your troublesome neighbor out of business.  Can Monsanto prove they doing everything possible to prevent contamination of their property? What kind of documentation do you provide the pilot on field location, instructions for prevention of contamination, and potential repercussions for "accidental" contamination?Sorry, but Monsanto is like human foot is to an ant.  The primary responsibility falls on your corporation. Do you have a quality system? Do you have written procedures that are regularly taught to your subcontractors, vendors, employees?As citizen and voter in this country I am getting very tired of excuses. 

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  16. JoytotheWorld Posted 5:14 am
    30 Jul 2009

    It is a wish, or better described as a hope, that the whole insecticide and chemical usage will be be exposed all the way to the level of lawn sprays and home owner applied chemicals.  It is frightening that there are so many that do not see the need to limit chemical usage to its absolute lowest level necessary.  There are days I take my dog for a walk and really wonder if I am doing her any favors. Every single lawn in the neighborhood will have warning signs and some places have that tell-tale smell and no signs.  Is anyone doing any studies to see what happens when an entire neighborhood feels they have the right to contaminate at will?

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