BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 1, 2021
Sen. Troy Jackson’s LD 125, scheduled for hearing on March 2, would ban the aerial spraying of herbicides in Maine’s industrial forest. We have been organic farmers for 45 years in Aroostook County’s Unorganized Territory and grow Maine certified seed potatoes. We know firsthand the catastrophic risks from aerial spraying. As a result of being accidentally sprayed with “Sevin” in the 1979 Spruce Budworm Project, we were disqualified from MOFGA organic certification for three years. Recently, industrial forest landowners clearcut adjacent land. Should they decide to aerially spray herbicides, there is little doubt toxins would drift off-target, contaminate our crops, trigger loss of organic certification, annihilate our markets and force us out of business. Passing LD 125 will strengthen justice in Maine. ~ Jim Gerritsen, Wood Prairie Family Farm, Bridgewater