Courts, Environment, Science, Society

Oregon County Mandates 2,000 Acre Organic Farm Sprayed With Chemical Herbicides

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

A 2,000 acre organic farm in central Oregon is facing what could be a be an existential threat to its operations after county weed control authorities sent notice mandating that the farm use chemical herbicides, such as Roundup, to eradicate weed growth.

The mandate would bring to an end nearly 18 years of organic farming, placing a significant loss of organic food to the public.

Azure Farms is a certified organic farm located in Moro, Sherman County, Oregon. The farm produces almost all the organic wheat, field peas, barley, Einkorn, and beef for Azure Standard.

Sherman County could issue a court order on May 22, 2017 to quarantine Azure Farms and possibly to spray the entire farm with poisonous herbicides contaminating them with Milestone, Escort, and Roundup.

Such a unilateral action on the behalf of the few individuals representing county government could set a precedent in damaging perhaps one of the few remaining healthy alternatives to mass-market agribusinesses.

Oregon State law requires arms to control noxious weeds, in the case of Azure Farms Canadian Thistle. But in this instance Sherman County states that the farm is not doing enough to control this noxious weed through organic means. Instead, it was determined that the farm use a scorched earth herbicide to do what it states is an eradication effort rather than a control measures county officials consider ineffective.

In an appeal to the public for help, Azure Farms issued a statement that reads in part:

This will destroy all the efforts as your farm has made for years to produce the very cleanest and healthiest food humanly possible. About 2,000 acres will be impacted; that is 2.8 times the size of The City of London that is about to be sprayed with noxious, toxic, polluting herbicides.

The county would then put a lien on the farm to pay for the expense of the labor and chemicals used.

As if it was not enough to relegate the farm to being contaminated with hazardous chemicals, adding insult to injury the county is forcing the organic farm to pay for its own demise.

Azure Standard, the owner of Azure Farms, is the largest distributor of organic and non-GMO foods in the United States. The company received an email from Sherman County officials stating that the county had changed its interpretation of the statutory code regarding weed control on organic farms. They decided that control of noxious weeds simply is not enough and that instead thay want to eradicate noxious weeds. It is very difficult to fully eradicate weeds in an organic farming.

The farm may soon receive a court order to apply herbicides to the farm during a hearing on May 22 if the court follows the county’s demand.

One single application of a chemical herbicide is enough for an organic farm to lose its USDA Organic Certification. According the USDA:

Any land used to produce raw organic commodities must not have had prohibited substances applied to it for the past three years. Until the full 36-month transition period is met, you may not:

  • Sell, label, or represent the product as “organic”
  • Use the USDA organic or certifying agent’s seal

One can only imagine the economic impact for a three year period in which an organic farm cannot be certified. But aside from the certification issue, the provenance of the farm could be damaged and there may be residuals remaining in the soil.

It is not only an economic cost to the farm, but a loss of supply for many who are concerned about health risks with chemicals such as Roundup, a herbicide listed as a “Probable Human Carcinogen” by the Europeans.

Given the size of the chemical herbicide industry that faces loss of sales due to public demand for greater access to organic foods, a very convenient way to force herbicide might be through friendly faces in noxious weed control districts.

Update: Agricultural Scientist Responds To Oregon County’s Mandate To Apply Herbicides To Organic Farm

Here follows a video news release from the farm along with contact information for Sherman County:

https://vimeo.com/216920516

UPDATE: The Organic Farm and Sherman County have reached a tentative settlement.

By Darren Smith

Sources:

Oregon Revised Statutes
Azure Standard
Sherman County Oregon Weed District

The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.

119 thoughts on “Oregon County Mandates 2,000 Acre Organic Farm Sprayed With Chemical Herbicides”

    1. Really? Stop junking up the thread with your soliciting spam ad from some woman in Wisconsin. Wisconsin? Really. Couldn’t they find one (1) Azuries in Oregon to start their petition. Sad.

      Thank you for sharing Dr. Stein.

      1. I’m in Wisconsin where we actually have quite a bit of organic farming going on. CV Brown, I didn’t see the spam you’re talking about (which is probably fortunate) but have read all the comments posted today, because I was also trying to see both sides of the story and view this with great concern. I will likely sign the petition and share the story so that others can as well. We are all in trouble if the government is allowed to mandate spraying this stuff here or anywhere else, not only because it is poisoning our food supply but because it is likely a significant cause of the pollinator death we have been seeing.

      2. CV,

        You’re response is both inaccurate and incredibly ugly. This is a petition on behalf of this farm. Have you become so authoritarian that you would like to deny others the chance to petition on behalf of the farm? Why should you object to this freedom of speech? What is that to you.

        If you don’t want to do this, don’t. That’s exactly where you right ends and other’s begin!

  2. Wow. Blue state blues. Too funny. Even the liberal socialist of the Pacific Rim can’t get it right.

    Makes me want to grill tonight to show my solidarity. 32oz. New York Strip with my homemade Amoxicillin rub. Mid rare with a heavy carcinogenic crust and a nice heavy Zinf @ 64°.

    Now on a more positive note aimed at a resolution to save Azure. What do they call Azure people or followers? Do they have a name yet? How about Azuries….Azurbiees…
    Abzurds…sorry.

    So simple they are all tripping over the remedy.

    Designate the Azure Farm as a “SANCTUARY FARM”. Bring in migrant farm laboring illegals to hand pick (organically) the Canadian Thistle. Problem solved.

    Additionally they need to insure that they post bilingual signage in both English and Spanish warning the illegals of the inherent dangers picking Thistles..

    WARNING: It’s ok to prick your finger but don’t finger your prick.

  3. This tragic situation emphasizes several things. For one, it illustrates the unfeeling, unreasonable nature of an overly powerful, intrusive government. For another, not every regulation or agency is reasonable. There are some who feel that there is no regulation which could possibly be bad, and opposing one means that you are some kind of anarchist. I give you Exhibit A above.

    I am a strong supporter of organic farming. It takes years and thousands of dollars to achieve organic status. This unilateral decision will wipe this farm out, because by definition it can no longer be considered organic. It destroys a business. And it requires this business to spend money on an expensive lawsuit.

    I hope they are able to find legal representation that will fight this for free or at reduced cost. And I hope they successfully sue the government.

    If the government can do this to one organic farm, it can do it to all of them. Which means none of us would be permitted to eat organic because our too powerful government could spontaneously consider we shouldn’t be allowed to. For example, if Big Ag corporate donors get too much influence over politicians they have bought, they could easily wipe out their organic competitors.

    For shame, Oregon. And let this be a lesson in why we need to fight government overreach and unfair regulations.

  5. We need PETW (People for the Ethical Treatment of Weeds) to come and protest! Think of all the limousine liberals who will be forced to pay even more for the special “organic” food they need for their delicate gluten-free, non-GMO, vegan metabolisms!

    1. Ha! I would also note an analogy to the anti-vaccine luddites who endanger general population.

  6. I don’t know why a combination of goats and manual labor can’t control the weeds. I’ve also seen YouTube videos on natural alternatives to Roundup (a vinegar, salt, etc concoction), although I don’t know if they work. This all seems rather odd for Oregon, which I had thought of as a state that would want to promote organic farming. I’m suspecting that there much be some economic competition at the local level, which motivates the county bureaucrats to want Azure out of business.

    1. Unfortunately, this type of attitude is not “un-Oregon” in EASTERN Oregon! the Bloody Red half of the state.

      2/3s of the state represented by one R in the House, the other 1/3 of the state is where the population is, 4 Reps.

      What needs to be investigated is what changes have there recently been in the Sherman County staff, elected or employees; then follow the money to wherever would “benefit” from seeing such a large organic source destroyed.

  7. This horsesh!t just creates more libertarians. Soon we will take back our country.

  9. Very sad. That private property means nothing to the government.
    I knew it was all over when President
    Obama appointed two former Monsanto employees into the administration. 😥

  10. We have been buying from Azure for many years so this is very personal as it is for many of you here.

    I have been researching this all day and found the following information. I don’t know exactly what to make of it yet but there are some deep contradictions in this attack on Azure Farms by local politicians.
    Some of whom own small wheat farms themselves and collect good amounts of money from the Federal government in the way of subsidies.

    The reason why “noxious weeds” are important to agricultural states is because they can damage crops, therefore affecting the states’ economy.

    “..A noxious weed is a weed that has been designated by an agricultural authority as one that is injurious to agricultural or horticultural crops, natural habitats or ecosystems, or humans or livestock” *

    Less than 4 years ago genetically modified wheat was found in this area and has since been found in Montana, Idaho and Washington State, besides other areas of the country, causing many millions of dollars in losses. Importing countries don’t want GMO contaminated wheat and have halted all imports. This has greatly affected the economy of these states. Oregon exports as much as 90% of its wheat.

    https://www.friends.org/latest/importance-wheat-exports-oregons-economy-1000-friends-statement-gmo-contamination

    My question to Sherman County politicians is… why are you going after an organic farm that satisfies the requirements placed by nations that import wheat produced in Oregon, benefiting its economy and are threatening to turn it into exactly what those importing nations don’t want?

    This is the main contradiction that is causing my confusion. If “noxious weeds” are undesirable because they hurt the economy, then shouldn’t these politicians be cleaning up the mess left by Monsanto? or better yet, having them cleaning it up?

    *Wikipedia.

    1. I concur that wind pollinated GMOs should be considered noxious weeds. It is impossible to stop them from contaminating nearby non GMO, or organic, farms, which is economically injurious to the owners of those fields.

      Customers preferentially buy products labeled “non-GMO”. Wind pollinated GMO plants do not give neighboring farmers the right to opt out, and if their field is contaminated, through no fault of their own, Monsanto lawyers show up and sue them for patent infringement, forcing them to purchase GMO seed from then annually.

  11. Pingback: Oregon County Mandates 2,000 Acre Organic Farm Sprayed With Chemical Herbicides | SF CEQA
  12. Pingback: Oregon County Mandates 2,000 Acre Organic Farm Sprayed With Chemical Herbicides | SF CEQA

  13. This sounds like a huge nightmare. What is the point in contaminating the nation’s food supply?

  14. If the county gets away with this, Azure will never be organic again. They will want it sprayed every year, so they will never get their certification back. Azure’s hope is to beat them in court, or the newspapers.

  15. The County is wrong to do this, but the whole organic food thing is a scam from a nutritional standpoint. From a sustainable farming standpoint, not so much.

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

    2. Whether it is a nutritional scam or not, it is still a violation of the farm’s property rights.

      1. What about the property rights of neighboring farms that their weeds are being spread to?

        1. That’s a fair question, but the city’s proposal to go to DefCon3 isn’t an answer!

          There’s time to figure out: 1. what is actually happening and 2. finding an answer that helps everyone. Are we so stupid that people can no longer come up with win-win answers?

        2. You make a very valid point, Sierra Rose.

          My thought is that if herbicides solved the Canadian Thistle problem, then neighboring farms wouldn’t worry about reseeding. The size of the property makes it difficult to repeatedly chop down the thistle plants without disturbing crops. And they need to be repeatedly cut down before their new growth gets an opportunity store resources. Constant tillage creates hardpan underneath the depths of the tines, and can degrade the soil structure.

          Here is a short paper that discusses the challenges of organic farming and suppression of the thistle:

          http://cropwatch.unl.edu/organic/thistle

          Canadian Thistle is wind pollinated and widely distributed. It will always creep back in.

          The weed nuisance defense would allow every organic farm in America to be shut down. There are organic methods which can and should be used. Otherwise, organic farming will not be permitted in the US, while GMO farms are, which contaminate neighboring fields.

          1. Constant tillage is a problem, but hoeing can be done. In addition to detassrling and some rogueing, I have also hoed grass and other weeds out of fields. Like I said above, activists could put themselves to good use and form crews to how the fields instead of protesting in front of city hall.

            There’s an Andy Griffith show about complaining townsfolk coming together to fix up an eyesore of a house. Seems like a good solution to me. Increase community, help a neighbor, and eradicate a weed. Win-win.

    3. From one perspective it might be be a ‘scam’, Squeeky.

      Organic food may not have any more micro nutrients than conventionally praised produce.

      But if one factors in the extra work the body has to expend to eliminate the chemical residues the conventional food has on/in it, expending micronutrients for to do so, then there is a micronutrient loss when eating conventionally praised produce.

  16. Justice Holmes, please note: Property rights used to be sacrosanct BUT NOT if they interfere with Monsanto’s profits OR some naturalist’s concern for the gopher, the sock jay, or “wetlands” or Civil War era bullets that might reside on the land, or some little fish that lives a hundred miles away.

    1. Recognition of public assets and the importance of preserving important landmarks is not the same and you know it. Protecting the public right to clean air, clean water is very different from ordering someone to use a dangerous chemical that will destroy their livelihood and the choice of humans. False equivalence are not cogent arguments but never mind. Profits over people every time.

  17. Our country is not governed by elected officials but by big corporations that rule over our rights and our property. We still have some freedom but that will go to. I do not have any hope for either my country or our society. And the worst part is that I am too old to fight back.

  18. As so it goes in the land of the free where private property rights are sacrosanct but of course not if it interferes with Monsanto’s profits!

  19. I hope that they can find a way to fight this taking. While so-called Canada thistle, it should go by its European name of creeping thistle, is a definite pest, it can be kept under control by the use of a hoe. Takes alotta labor that way.

    1. When was the last time you tried to hoe 2,000 acres? If this farm can not control their noxious weeds it will spread to their neighbors. They do not have the right to cause harm to others in defiance of the law.

      1. S.R.

        The answer does not lie in what the city proposes. If it is wrong to hurt other farms, it is wrong to destroy this farm. We aren’t so stupid that there can’t be a win-win solution to this problem. Take some time, think it all out and do what helps everyone.

        For some reason, this type of thinking is beyond public officials at this time. However, the rest of us don’t have to fall into their trap of either/or idiocy!

      2. I detasseled corn and rogued soybeans as a teen. I am not sure how many acres we covered at a time but the fields were large. If activists want to put themselves to GOOD use, they could get crews together to hoe the fields to eradicate this weed. The farm is probably not completely infested; there are probably nasty pockets of it.

        2,000 Acres =
        3.125 Square Miles

        It’s not that big, and its probably divided into smaller fields.

  20. I would challenge it in federal court and invoke the Takings Clause. This is a taking of the owner’s property— killing is taking– and they are by killing the organic vegetables taking them from the owners. By destroying the merchandise the state is taking the value of the property (the land) from the owners. The Fifth Amendment violation is a constitutional violation and the case can be filed under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 and under the conspiracy provisions in Section 1985. All the individual “state actors” need to be named. Plaintiff can obtain injunctive relief, declaratory judgement, damages both actual and punitive and attorney fees.

    1. I do not know enough about law but thank you for giving us this info that brings some hope. Regardless in any legal situation the corporations behind these abuses know that they have the money to fight in court. The victims usually do not.

      1. I would second Jay Ruby’s post, this exactly describes a “takings” of private property by the State, in violation of the takings clause of the 5th Amendment.
        You should file a §1983 civil rights action immediately in your nearest federal court, and apply for a Temporary Restraining Order in that federal court simultaneously. It is a most appropriate order for the situation, where state action is threatening to impose irreparable harm.
        Feel free to ask questions, this is not an esoteric civil action, but rather straightforward and routine given these types of circumstances.

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