What to do about neighbors spray drift???

BTS

Member
Location
Burns KS usa
My house is about 100ft from a field, which normally is planted to corn or beans, sometimes it's wheat but then they plant beans in the stubble after the wheat is out.

We have Locus trees for a boarder around the property, my mom and dad planted those trees when they first got married and moved to this farm. All the locus trees have been dying out for the past several years and never really thought much about it. But we realized that they are all dying from the chemicals that they are spraying in the field. We have lost almost all of the trees, the ones that are alive are slowly dying limb by limb. Every time the COOP sprays (that's who the neighbor hires) it's normally a 20mph wind blowing right at us. We finally complained after they killed the garden and a fruit tree. They said "we never spray when it's windy" which we told them that is a lie. They also said "we didn't know that you had a garden" so I guess they didn't see the 2 30'x70 greenhouses sitting there in plain site????? even if I have a garden or not I still don't want my house dusted in chemicals. We are a chemical free farm and we are going to put up signs ASAP. After the COOP came out and we talked to them about spraying in the wind, they said "now that we know you have a garden we will make sure we spray when the wind is blowing the opposite direction of your farm and then a few weeks later the wind was about 20mph blowing right at us and guess who starts spraying :banghead:.

I don't want to be one of those neighbors that's complaining about farm noises and dust. But these sprays are killing our little farm and they are killing us. We can't even work outside when they spray because the smell is so strong, to many people around here are dying of cancer and I know these sprays are the reason. We only have 3 acres here so we grow what we can, the 2 high tunnels are full of Ginger and Turmeric which are very high dollar crops and we sell it as "Chemical Free" which I'm starting to wonder if it is chemical free anymore. We have a acre garden on this property, fruit trees, berries and ect.

Anyone have any thoughts on what to do??? :scratchhead:
 

Ukjay

Member
Location
Wales!
Take a cutting of the dead or dying plant to a lab and get them tested for pesticides. With this evidence you can then take it further, as you would have some data on actual chemicals used.

Then after proving the cause of death, you can then seek rectification / replacement before you move to NZ!
 

Dead Rabbits

Member
Location
'Merica
My house is about 100ft from a field, which normally is planted to corn or beans, sometimes it's wheat but then they plant beans in the stubble after the wheat is out.

We have Locus trees for a boarder around the property, my mom and dad planted those trees when they first got married and moved to this farm. All the locus trees have been dying out for the past several years and never really thought much about it. But we realized that they are all dying from the chemicals that they are spraying in the field. We have lost almost all of the trees, the ones that are alive are slowly dying limb by limb. Every time the COOP sprays (that's who the neighbor hires) it's normally a 20mph wind blowing right at us. We finally complained after they killed the garden and a fruit tree. They said "we never spray when it's windy" which we told them that is a lie. They also said "we didn't know that you had a garden" so I guess they didn't see the 2 30'x70 greenhouses sitting there in plain site????? even if I have a garden or not I still don't want my house dusted in chemicals. We are a chemical free farm and we are going to put up signs ASAP. After the COOP came out and we talked to them about spraying in the wind, they said "now that we know you have a garden we will make sure we spray when the wind is blowing the opposite direction of your farm and then a few weeks later the wind was about 20mph blowing right at us and guess who starts spraying :banghead:.

I don't want to be one of those neighbors that's complaining about farm noises and dust. But these sprays are killing our little farm and they are killing us. We can't even work outside when they spray because the smell is so strong, to many people around here are dying of cancer and I know these sprays are the reason. We only have 3 acres here so we grow what we can, the 2 high tunnels are full of Ginger and Turmeric which are very high dollar crops and we sell it as "Chemical Free" which I'm starting to wonder if it is chemical free anymore. We have a acre garden on this property, fruit trees, berries and ect.

Anyone have any thoughts on what to do??? :scratchhead:

You are in Kansas right? The odds are not in your favor, nor are the laws really.

The best thing you can do is keep a good relationship with the neighbor and the co-op manager and sprayer drivers. Ask one or all of them to notify you when they will be spraying.
You can then call them if they are spraying with the wind in the wrong direction. Don't be a dick head to them.

Forget about what you claim has been drifted previously. You have no way to prove it. Forget about trying to prove the drift is affecting your health, no way to prove it.

If I remember correctly the KDA doesn't even acknowledge that drift occurs and places no liability on anyone. If you try to claim damages from the co-op, you will be talking to the insurance company. How much time do you have? How deep are your pockets?

You could get involved with the Kansas Rural Center and Kansas Farmers Union. They monitor ag law among other things and you could be put in contact with others who have been drifted.

Good luck.
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
Spray drift is a REAL & SERIOUS concern to us here, despite our larger areas / distances

24D & other "smellys" for example can drift for many miles especially in periods of inversion, creating havoc for cotton, legumes & other broadleaves many km from the original source
All operators here are required by law to maintain a spray log of applications & climatic conditions. It is an issue the Ag industry takes very seriously. Spraying contractors carry insurance to protect them from potential litigation & most farmers carry public liability insurance as well.

Firstly, have a quiet chat with your neighbour, they may not be aware of your concerns if someone is doing the spraying for them

Secondly, maintain a diary yourself of the applications & environmental conditions, including wind speed, direction, temp & humidity. Dunno about Kansas, but here it is also relatively simple to look back at historical weather recordings to check wind conditions, direction etc.
 

CornishTone

Member
BASIS
Location
Cornwall
Spray drift is a REAL & SERIOUS concern to us here, despite our larger areas / distances

24D & other "smellys" for example can drift for many miles especially in periods of inversion, creating havoc for cotton, legumes & other broadleaves many km from the original source
All operators here are required by law to maintain a spray log of applications & climatic conditions. It is an issue the Ag industry takes very seriously. Spraying contractors carry insurance to protect them from potential litigation & most farmers carry public liability insurance as well.

Firstly, have a quiet chat with your neighbour, they may not be aware of your concerns if someone is doing the spraying for them

Secondly, maintain a diary yourself of the applications & environmental conditions, including wind speed, direction, temp & humidity. Dunno about Kansas, but here it is also relatively simple to look back at historical weather recordings to check wind conditions, direction etc.

We occasionally get issues here with 24D ester and grape vines, but it's very rare. Most people are only too aware of the implications of chemical trespass and will avoid using hormone esters from sept on. Only takes a warm day with an inversion layer and you end up in very hot water with the big corporate vineyards who can afford to take you to the cleaners.
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
Many years ago I had an issue with a bit of drift from a neighbour. Application was by an aerial contractor.
It was the neighbour who drew my attention to it, as well the operator. It was decided to wait till harvest, get an idea of the actual yield difference / dollars lost, & the contractor ( via his insurance company ) would make good any loss.
As it turned out, we had a flood & lost the whole crop anyway, so it didn't really matter . . .
 

BTS

Member
Location
Burns KS usa
Thanks for the info, spray drift is a serious thing here too, we have to much money invested in all our plants not even talking about on how it's our income. People need to be more careful with what they are spraying, I have a wheat field on the edge of town, it's all chemical free because I grind it for flour, the dumb city came a sprayed around the street sign (although I keep everything mowed) and the spray drifted and killed a little bit of my wheat on the corner. It wasn't enough to complain about but I wish they wouldn't do it again. I am going to put signs up next year before anything happens.

I will start keeping track of everything, it doesn't really work to have them call me before they spray because a lot of the time I am not home, I come home and they are just finishing or I can smell that they sprayed. Then I notice a day or so later the weeds around my farm will have spots on the leaves.

I am always kind to the neighbors and the sprayer operators. I am a kind person and never get angry over anything.
I will get signs up and see what comes of it.
 

kfpben

Member
Location
Mid Hampshire
We had a neighbour spraying their pony paddock with 24D which drifted into our vines and made the whole crop unsaleable from that section.

Nothing we could do about it. Proof is very difficult to get without video evidence (which we didn't have).
 

BTS

Member
Location
Burns KS usa
The wind hasn't been bad for a couple months here, the wind has been around 0 to 10mph except for today. Today the wind was blowing a min of 25mph with gust over 45mph. I looked out the window of the house today after lunch to see a sprayer a half mile down the road spraying. The wind was out of the south and he was spraying on the south side. I could smell what ever they were spraying so I know the drift was making it to our farm. This is a different place spraying, this is AG Service not the COOP.
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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