How do we know if they use Roundup?

mha72369

We are looking at a home with a couple acres, but it is surrounded by cornfields owned by a few different people. Is there any way we could find out if they use glyohosate/Round up, which would inevitably end up getting in our air and on our organic garden. Any suggestions for doing our due diligence would be greatly appreciated!

Torey

Welcome to TGN's forum @mha72369.

When you have time let us know where you are from in the introductions section.

I'm afraid my answer isn't going to be very positive for you.

If they are growing corn, chances are that they are using chemicals for fertilizer, pest control and weed management, some much worse than Roundup. Corn is not cost effective for large factory farms to use organic methods. It requires enough land to allow for crop rotation and as a heavy feeder, corn tends to deplete soils quickly so you need to use a lot of compost or green manure or allow livestock to graze on cover crops during field rotation. So if they are planting corn, year after year, in the same large scale fields, they most likely are using chemicals.

Sorry for being so negative, but I would look for property well away from factory corn fields. There is just no way to protect from over spray or run off.

LaurieLovesLearning

@mha72369 Unfortunately, I will have to agree with what @torey has stated. We live in an area that grows conventional crops. Corn is one of them.

We get spray drift many times on our acreage, through three seasons (all except winter). Spray travels a longer distance than what is claimed, especially when they spray in wind, which is supposedly discouraged. But, they all do it anyway.

You can plant trees & windbreak shrubs to give a buffer, but it won't cut it all. If you can smell the spray, it is present.

My husband (who has worked for farmers & seed growers much of his life) says the developed sprays offered to farmers tend to get stronger as time goes on since they keep having to battle stronger and more persistent weeds that are resistant to certain chemicals.

Assume if they are growing corn, or any other conventional crop, these chemicals are present.

Cornelius

@mha72369 Welcome to TGN! Another thing to test for on property is bio-sludge which can usually be detected by testing soil for benedryl.

mha72369

Thanks for the responses everyone. You provided confirmation of what I was suspecting. In this part of Northeast PA it seems they alternate between soybeans and corn in the fields, both of which scream GMO to me. Cute piece of property, but not worth the potential health risks. The only other option for getting a little homestead going around here seems to be getting a heavily wooded (and usually quite rocky and uneven) piece of property and starting from scratch with raw land...

mha72369

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/915709#Comment_915709

In your experience, how far does the spray travel (approximate range)?

LaurieLovesLearning

@mha72369 I don't have proof, and it won't kill or show visible direct damage as readily the further it travels, but I remember suddenly smelling spray in one area where I was waiting for someone and looking very hard for any sprayers, which I couldn't hear.

The only sprayer I saw was at least 1 mile away, if not further. I'm pretty sure it was over that mile (the land was quite flat there). I had no way to investigate it further at that time to confirm. There may have been one closer, but generally you can hear their high pitched whine easily within a mile.