Ventura Ag Futures Alliance Tackles Thorny Fumigant Issue
October 2008: For the past 10 months, the members of the Ventura Ag Futures Alliance (AFA), an ad-hoc group of producers, labor representatives, environmentalists, and community leaders, have been discussing one of the most divisive issues in agriculture, the use of pesticides. Specifically the use of fumigants, such as methyl bromide, metam sodium, and chlorpicrin which are critical to commercial strawberry production (and many other crops) in Ventura County.
The issue is a sensitive one from all sides. Strawberry production in Ventura county was worth $366 million in 2007, easily making it the highest farm gate product in the County. Yet the use of fumigants are under increasing restrictions. Methyl Bromide was banned under the 1987 Montreal Protocol as an ozone depletor, though its use continues under federal rules. More recently, other fumigants used by agriculture have come under restriction by the Air Resources Control Board as contributors to smog. Ventura is in a “non-attainment” zone for air quality and the Board in conjunction with the Department of Pesticide Regulation have put strict limits on the use of these chemicals. Anti-pesticide advocates have long targeted fumigants as one of the most toxic of the chemicals workers and communities are exposed to.
With this backdrop, the AFA has been working to understand this issue from all perspectives. The group opened its consideration of the issue by getting a picture of how important strawberry production is to the economic health of agriculture and how important soil sterilization is to commercial production. The strawberry varieties that are grown for commercial distribution, those large firm berries you find in stores and restaurants, are very susceptible to a range of wilts and fungi. Without a clean soil for planting, crops are quickly lost.
The industry understands the pressures to reduce fumigant use and have a variety of breeding and research programs running to find hardier cultivars. But the process is slow and no one expects results in the near term.
If new varieties are still in the future, what alternatives to fumigation are available today? For this answer the group turned to UC Coop Extension and their field scientists. There are a wide variety of new approaches being tested in the field, including solarization (the use of solar heat to kill soil pests), steam blankets, and improved application methods that vastly reduce the amounts of fumigants that reach the atmosphere. Most of these approaches are still several years away from commercial application, but all offer some promise depending on costs.
Of course not all farmers use fumigants to grow strawberries. Organic berries are grown using careful cultivation techniques including field rotation that allows strawberries to be replanted in the same field every 3 to 7 years. The organic market can offer a significant price advantage, but large growers find their organic fields yield up to 50% less product, making the trade-off a losing proposition for many.
The group learned that the human (particularly worker) health risks of these chemicals can be extreme. All of the common fumigants are respiratory irritants and most have more severe risks with continual exposure. As is the case with most toxic chemicals, at risk populations include children and seniors.
It has been a rich year of learning the complexities of the situation. Where will it lead? We do not know. There are hard realities on all sides particularly between the economic contribution of fumigant use and the potential health impacts. As of this writing, the members of the Alliance are preparing to meet to find what is often the most elusive of grails, wisdom in the face of complexity.
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