March, 2007

The Organic Implications of the LBAM Spray Program
by Mark Squire

What’s all the fuss about Checkmate, the material the CDFA is contemplating spraying on our heads this summer if the same material is safe enough to be allowed in organic agriculture? Or is this a reason not to trust the organic label? The answer to this seeming dilemma is twofold. One distinction is that the active ingredient in Checkmate is the same pheromone as is permitted in organic agriculture - but the formulation is different. The inert ingredients have been implicated in health problems from sprayings in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties, and it is this that makes the formulations significantly different. On an organic farm, the pheromone is allowed in bait stations or in contained twist ties put in spots around an orchard. In fact, Good Earth uses a different but related pheromone in sticky traps in our bulk food area. The pheromone, which is the active ingredient, attracts the male grain moth to a gluey surface, quenching his sexual desire in the most gruesome way, but preventing many of our bulk foods from being worm ridden. Pheromone stations are an effective way of controlling moth pests with a minimum of danger to other species. The spray program being proposed by CDFA, however, will drop this same kind of pheromone mixed with questionable inert ingredients (designed to make the pheromone last) and encapsulated in plastic from aircraft over our communities. This kind of direct application on the heads of people and wildlife is totally different than the kind typically allowed with restrictions in organic orchards. Now to complicate things further, organic farmers whose crops are sprayed against their wishes during the LBAM Spray program are allowed to sell their crops as organic. Even though we oppose the spray program, our support of innocent organic farmers is of paramount importance. Our organic farming community has been the major force in eliminating pesticides from our environment. We believe that for consumers to avoid purchasing crops from those farms who have been victims in the spray program will severely jeopardize them economically and in the long run do a disservice to all who hold dear our health and the environment. Good Earth’s position on this also takes into account the fact that the pesticide being used, even in spray applications, is way less toxic than 98% of the conventional pesticides sprayed on crops everyday in California. Good Earth feels that losing our organic farmers to bankruptcy would be counterproductive and that we need to stand behind them at this critical time. We do realize that this is a somewhat controversial position to take and there will be people who disagree with us. We will do the best we can to give folks who want to avoid these farms the information so that they can do this when a farm is sprayed. The spray program is currently stopped for the winter. CDFA plans to resume spraying parts of Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties June 1. If we cannot stop them, the CDFA will spray parts of San Francisco, Marin, Alameda, and Contra Costa starting August 1. Send a letter and maybe we will not need to make this hard choice!