I am NOT a happy camper. I live in PEI, land of the potatoes. I own 3 acres of land, I live on one and the other 2 are used for hay by a farmer friend. I am bordered on 2 sides by fields owned by a neighbor, guess what was planted in those fields this year? Hmmmmm POTATOES.
The problem is not with the potatoes themselves of course, I like potatoes. There are 2 problems, the pesticides and the harvesting methods.
Problem number one: Pesticides.
There is supposed to be a buffer zone between public property and where a farmer would spray pesticides. The farmer who farms this ignores this rule, spraying ON my property. He turns the sprayer on as he turns around on my land because he did not leave a buffer space.
Problem number two: The harvest.
Today was the last straw for me. I watched as someone in a truck drove and parked on my property while they went to work on a tractor in the field. I went and left a note on the windshield that said: "for future reference, this is private property, if you would agree not to spray pesticides so close to my house, I wouldn't mind if you drove on it." Perfectly within my rights I think, after all I own the property! After that, I watched (and took pictures) as countless potato trucks, tractors and harvesters drove over my property time and time again. They drove over my survey pin many times, burying it, they drove over and "stole?" another marker I had at the other end of my property. Can't find it, gone.
At the end of the day, I noticed the owner of the farm, out there looking for something (my marker that they "lost") so I seized the opportunity and went to chat with him. I said "you made quite a mess of my property". I told him about the note I left on the truck. He said he knew and fed me a bunch of excuses of why he HAD to drive on my property. When I brought up the pesticides issue, he had excuses for that too and told me that the fact that our well water here on the Island is mostly contaminated with nitrates has nothing to do with farming. fertilizer or pesticides. He said it's all made up by the government.
I tried to end the conversation there, I told him I understood that it had been a rough year for farmers. I asked him just to reassure me that it would be different next year. He said it would. Then he told me there are just a few people who are CRANKY about this and that it's only the English people that complain about the pesticides!!!!! As much as saying if I was a GOOD Acadian that I would not be saying this. I walked away feeling kind of sorry for him and feeling like I did something wrong. Now I am just boiling mad!!!
My biggest concern from this is that there is a spot where the water runs down the field and creates a ditch on my property. When it rains, water runs down the field to this area. Part of the reason I am letting grass and hay grow is to help stop some of this run off. The trucks drove over and over this area today, making it deeper than ever and destroying the grass that was on it.
I am adding some pictures of the days activities. Feel free to comment, am I just cranky? Or do I have a right to say what goes on on MY property.
6 comments:
uhm, I'd be LIVID if someone was spraying pesticides on or even next to my property! That guy's an idiot if he thinks they aren't harmful. There are ecological ways to grow potatoes and other crops. Honestly, I don't even buy potatoes unless they're organic because I don't want to support the continued excessive use of pesticides in PEI.
OMG, I can understand your frustration. We have farmers that plant behind our house and every time they spray their pesticides, we have to keep our windows down because we notice after a day or so that it gets hard to breath in the house. They do this at night time after midnight and keep us awake all hours of the night with the noise of all the tractors. Not only that, every year, they get closer and closer to our property. They are coming so close to our property that the tractors have broken all the branches off our apple trees. These trees have been there for decades which are on our property line. I wouldn't be surprised if they run over my trees next year. I only wish I could afford to put a big fence to stop them. I have no patience for this can't understand y farmers are permitted to use pesticides so close to our homes. No wonder so many people are sick. They say it's harmless but if it kills bugs, it can't be too good for us either. They have absolutely no respect for others or their properties. Here we are trying to grow an organic vegetable garden when they are spraying all around us. What good is that.
Good for you for confronting this guy! More of us need to be confronting farmers who are so focused on the bottom line that they have no respect for anything else. Do these farmers not realize that they are actually making it more likely that they will have a smaller yeild next year - and actually causing more damage to their land - when they use chemical pesticides? Did you also know that the acceptable levels of nitrates in drinking water in Canada is 2x higher than those in the US? And that PEI has the highest rate of several cancers in Canada? Coincidence? I think not!
uh, yes, youhave every right ti say what happens on your property! and way to go for confronting them...perhaps a letter to the editor is in order? or would that not be something a "good acadian" would do??
Wow. I don't blame you for being mad, Anna. I'd be calling someone or writing a letter!!! I would put up a "no trespassing" sign, too. Not only did they make a mess of your property, and not follow the rules regarding buffer zones and pesticide use, but then he called you cranky and totally disrespected you by saying you weren't REALLY French?!??!! This deserves some action!! I'm interested to know how eveything gets resolved!
Maybe a potato boycott...
With all the fish kills, the contaminated wells and the highest cancer rate in the country, the PEI government needs to do something here. Look at all the big cities, it's ILLEGAL to spray your lawn with any so-called safe pesticides.
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