Jacob's Farm wins Pesticide Lawsuit!
For the past two weeks Jacob's Farm, an Organic Farm of Culinary Herbs in the Santa Cruz area, have been in a contentious legal battle with Western Farm Service, a pesticide sales company. The law suit was the result of continued contamination by toxic pesticides on our crops at Wilder Ranch State Park.
The defendant claimed they were innocent because the pesticide industry and California's Department of Pesticide Regulation limit pesticide drift to the movement of pesticides by wind at time of application.
The repeated contamination that began in October 2006 and continued through 2007 was caused by the evaporation (volatization) of organophosphates after application carried by wind and fog. Western Farm Service mounted an aggressive defense that attacked the veracity of our witnesses and claimed we were at fault for starting an organic farm in the middle of a conventional brussel sprout producing area.
The jury found Western Farm Service guilty of Trespass, Negligence and Nuisance. We were awarded compensation for losses and legal fees.
The case is significant because it makes the volatization of pesticides and where they go the responsibility of the applicator. State Agricultural Commissioners will no longer be able to report "NO BLAME" as they did in our case when fields are contaminated or people injured by pesticides that volatize and move with wind or fog.
posted by Blair at
11:15 AM
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