TOXIC GLYPHOSATE: Coming To An Organic Field Near You!
Many of you have undoubtedly heard of Azure Standard— one of the world’s largest online grocery stores and also the largest independent distributor of non-GMO organic foods in the entire US. Their business is located in Dufur, Oregon. I have purchased a thing or two from them in the past. Among the many, many things they carry includes their own fresh organic produce. They also offer various grains and beef, grown organically in Moro, located in Central Oregon in Sherman County.
That is about to change… The organic part, that is.
In what I can only imagine is Monsanto’s dream-come-true, big agribusiness shills in Sherman County are about to force Azure Farms to spray toxic and (according to the WHO) carcinogenic glyphosate on its fields in order to eradicate a particular weed. In effect, this will destroy the farm’s organic fields… But even more so it will help serve to destroy whatever is left of the organic standard by establishing a cataclysmic new, Orwellian precedent. The fact that this is being imposed upon the largest independent distributor of non-GMO, organic foods seems like just a little too much of a coincidence.
OH– and Sherman County plans to put a lien on the farm in order to help the county pay for the costs of spraying.
All this is happening because Sherman County has arbitrarily decided to change its interpretation of a statutory code surrounding the control of noxious weeds. Apparently ‘control’ is not good enough. They insist that ‘eradication’ is the only way forward.
What are these “noxious” weeds, you ask?
Basically morning glory, Canada thistle and whitetop.
The court hearing is slated to happen on May 22–just a week from today. Their plan is to quarantine Azure Farms and then commence spraying the entire 2000 acre farm with a chemical cocktail of incredibly toxic pesticides, including Escort, Milestone, and Roundup immediately thereafter. It is not good enough in the minds of the Sherman County officials to simply control these weeds–which is entirely doable through organic methods. According to the official decree they must be “eradicated”. And according to them, the only manner in which this is possible is through toxic spraying.
Human health be damned.
And strangely… There seems to be zero coverage of this lunacy in any Oregon newspaper. I am frankly stymied, since until this moment I have seen the state of Oregon as a shining jewel within the US with respect to its broad embrace of sustainable, organic farming. I had to read Azure Standard’s press release multiple times to even believe this was really happening (please also see the this video):
Take action: email or call Sherman County Court today and stop them from spraying our 2,000-acre Organic farm with herbicides! More details in this video and below…
An Organic Farm Under Threat
Azure Farms is a working, Certified Organic farm located in Moro, Central Oregon, in Sherman County. It has been Certified Organic for about 18 years. The farm produces almost all the organic wheat, field peas, barley, Einkorn, and beef for Azure Standard.
Sherman County is changing the interpretation of its statutory code from controlling noxious weeds to eradicating noxious weeds. These weeds include Morning Glory, Canada Thistle, and Whitetop, all of which have been on the farm for many years, but that only toxic chemicals will eradicate.
Organic farming methods – at least as far as we know today – can only control noxious weeds—it is very difficult to eradicate them.
What’s Happening?
Sherman County may be issuing a Court Order on May 22, 2017, to quarantine Azure Farms and possibly to spray the whole farm with poisonous herbicides, contaminating them with Milestone, Escort and Roundup herbicides.
This will destroy all the efforts Azure Farms has made for years to produce the very cleanest and healthiest food humanly possible. About 2,000 organic acres would be impacted; that is about 2.8 times the size of the City of London, England, and 1.5 times the size of the city center of Philadelphia that could be sprayed with noxious, toxic, polluting herbicides.
The county would then put a lien on the farm to pay for the expense of the labor and chemicals used.
Take Action Now
If you are concerned about where your food comes from, enjoy Organic and non-GMO food grown in the United States, and support organic farmers, contact Sherman County Court before May 22, 2017 (and preferably before May 17 when the next court discussion will be held).
Contact info:
- Via email at lhernandez@co.sherman.or.us or…
- Call Lauren at 541-565-3416.
Raise your voice and speak up for you and your families and communities.
This proposed action is completely unreasonable and would destroy an organic farm and pollute a massive area. If enough voices that benefit from organic produce speak up, the county will understand that there are people that care about their food NOT containing toxic chemicals. And if the supporters of healthy food can have a louder voice than the supporters of toxic chemicals, every politician will listen. PLEASE take action today and share this message. Overwhelm the Sherman County representatives with your voice.
Take Action Today
Email or call Sherman County via email at lhernandez@co.sherman.or.us or call Lauren at 541-565-3416.
Thank you for all your support and well wishes so far.
Above all, please take action directly today. If you would like more information on this, feel free to add your name below and we will be in touch.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Nathan Stelzer
Azure Farm Manager
Take Action Now!
- EMail Today
Email lhernandez@co.sherman.or.us today and express your support for Azure, your outrage for this proposed action, and how it would impact you if this were to occur
- Call Sherman County
Call Lauren at 541-565-3416
- Share With Your Friends
Share this page and video on your social media networks and with friends and family.
<END OF PRESS RELEASE>
Although the supposed deadline for public comment is May 22nd, this is also about the time that Sherman County officials plan to implement their forced weed-eradication strategy.
In other words, anyone reading this interested in putting a stop to this plan needs to act/speak up NOW—like TODAY—to have any hope of real impact on this debacle. Azure Standard is asking all those interested in putting a stop to this debacle to NOT WAIT until May 22nd, and instead to contact those officials by this coming Wednesday, May 17th. We cannot afford to wait until the last minute to address this.
Losing this one battle would have decidedly chilling implications for the future of access to organic and sustainably produced food. It sets an extremely dangerous and potentially far-reaching precedent we cannot afford to allow.
The future of our health, environment and of our food supply is in effect up to all of US (and not simply some organization or political representative). For our most ancient ancestors food quality was a given. For us today it is something that must (sadly) be tirelessly fought for. But the more of us that engage in this awakened and self empowering process the easier it becomes for each of us to do so and the more likely our ultimate and meaningful success in overcoming the forces that oppose food and health freedom.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW!
~ Nora Gedgaudas, CNS, NTP, BCHN
UPDATE May 18, 2017: I wanted to share the good news that Sherman County has backed down after a flood of over 40,000 emails from concerned citizens. No spraying is likely to occur. I want to thank all of you that added your voice to this issue. Let’s all remain vigilant together and continue to stand behind people and companies working hard to do the right thing. You can watch the outcome of the hearing video right here.
maybe start an online petition – easier to get people to sign and send!
DON’T DO IT !!!!….PLEASE FIND ANOTHER WAY OR CONTINUE AS BEFORE AND LET THESES PEOPLE DO WHAT THEY DO BEST AS THEY HAVE DONE FOR THE LAST 18YEARS.
DON’T SPRAY OUR FOOD!
THANK YOU.
Sue from CANADA ??
Hi Jill, here you go! https://action.organicconsumers.org/o/50865/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=20619
I’m a fan of organic, but Azure is not without culpability in this situation.
A couple things:
This is being covered in Oregon
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2017/05/dispute_over_noxious_weeds_pit.html
Here is some other reporting that presents both sides
http://www.capitalpress.com/Oregon/20170515/county-may-press-for-quarantine-of-an-organic-farm
I can’t find any evidence of big-agribusiness in this controversy – the people raising the concerns are neighboring family farms. Yes these people use chemicals, but they don’t shill for Monsanto et al.
Azure’s approach to dealing with the county has been less than stellar. See:
http://docdro.id/bJlgch1
Basic sequence of events:
Many neighboring farmer complaints and attempts to get the farm to get weeds under control.
No action, so county steps in with a request for a weed control plan from the farm. Of 6 options presented to the farm, 5 are organic.
Farm responds with “you’re not the boss of me” (see above)
Other:
The weeds degrade the yield of neighboring farms. That’s why it’s a serious issue that all farms have to cooperate on.
There are other organic wheat farms in the county without these issues.
This is a pic of their farm from this week (healthy field in the background).
http://imgur.com/yEyCF7K
UPDATE May 18, 2017: I wanted to share the good news that Sherman County has backed down after a flood of over 40,000 emails from concerned citizens. No spraying is likely to occur. I want to thank all of you that added your voice to this issue. Let’s all remain vigilant together and continue to stand behind people and companies working hard to do the right thing. You can watch the outcome of the hearing video here: https://vimeo.com/217945829. ~ Nora
@Jason Bradley: Thanks for the additional information, good to hear that Sherman County officials may not be as completely bonkers as I thought from reading the initial post. Still I think spraying Roundup can NEVER be a solution to ANYTHING.
Cheers to y’all,
Martin
I wrote one of those e-mails to the Sherman County officials, encouraging them to refrain from spraying the Azure Blue farm with glyphosphate. After more research, I now understand that Azure has significant room for improvement in their weed control practices and neighbor relations.
Regarding the photo associated with the story, having worked in vineyards and wineries for a good part of my life, I am fairly certain that the tractor shown is actually spraying elemental sulphur (an approved organic input) on a vineyard, and the aerosol material shown is not likely to be glyphosphate or Round Up, as such a foliar application would damage or possibly kill the vines.
I offer this observation with the thought that PBPM would want to be as accurate as possible in all aspects of reporting, especially on such a highly charged subject.
Unfortunately, Round Up is still used in a lot of conventional vineyards, strip- sprayed on the ground directly under the vines.
I wrote one of those e-mails to the Sherman County officials, encouraging them to refrain from spraying the Azure Blue farm with glyphosate. After more research, I now understand that Azure has significant room for improvement in their weed control practices and neighbor relations.
Regarding the photo associated with the story, having worked in vineyards and wineries for a good part of my life, I am fairly certain that the tractor shown is actually spraying elemental sulphur (an approved organic input) on a vineyard, and the aerosol material shown is not likely to be glyphosate or Round Up, as such a foliar application would damage or possibly kill the vines.
I offer this observation with the thought that PBPM would want to be as accurate as possible in all aspects of reporting, especially on such a highly charged subject.
Unfortunately, Round Up is still used in a lot of conventional vineyards, strip- sprayed on the ground directly under the vines.
Dear Moderator, please note the second send of my comment includes the proper spelling of glyphosate, in lieu of the misspelled version in the first send. So the second is the one I intended to post. Thanks.