The Green Party of New Jersey Protect Organic Farmers - Write to the Pinelands Commission Updated September 03, 2005

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Write to Protest Lack of Monitoring

• Letter from Lindy Jedju to the Pinelands Commission - Write to show your support!
  Hello,
  At the July 14, 2000 meeting of the Pinelands Commission, a resolution to appoint to the Pinelands Agricultural Advisory Committee an additional 4 members from the Pinelands agricultural community, 2 from Burlington County and 2 from Atlantic County, was passed.
  
  Please consider a request that these additional members be appointed from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Beekeeping, Organic Farmer, Livestock, and/or IPM (Integrated Pest Management) agricultural communities in order to have the best representation
  possible of the diversified agriculture in the Pinelands region.
   
  Please email or mail to the address below:
  1) The names of those on the Pinelands Agricultural Advisory Committee.
  2) The schedule of public meetings of the PAAC.
  3) The required qualifications/job description of potential appointees.
  
  Thank you,  Linda Jedju
  American Dairy Goat Association Publicity & Promotional Activities Committee
  
  Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Jedju
  Big Sky Ranch
  POB 103
  New Lisbon, NJ 08064
  609-726-9693
  http://www.bigskyranch.cc
  

• Pinelands Commission on Monitoring!
  Hello,
  I am sharing this response from Pinelands Commission with you.  It is regarding my question below.
  
  It is alarming to realize that although development is monitored by CMP, pesticides which have toxic residues and may devastate soil and water aren't monitored in any way in the Pinelands. 
  
  Please consider that encouragement to use alternatives to organophosphates, such as Imidan, should be part of the education that DEP gives to pesticide applicators and farmers who use pesticides in environmentally sensitive areas. 
  
  Wouldn't it be nice if pesticide company sales people promoted the least hazardous pesticide to a farmer in the wetlands?
  
  Maybe farmers in environmentally sensitive areas should be encouraged to attend educational classes about choosing pesticides. Maybe an IPM Specialist and a Certified Organic Farmer should be included as the educators in DEP classes for re-certification for applicators and farmers too.  It is a mistake to assume that just because someone is a farmer, he/she cares about what happens to the land.
  
  For example, as a beekeeper, I am on the DEP Beekeepers List for advance notification of application of pesticides that kill honeybees and that will be applied within a 2 mile radius of my farm. 
  
  Wings Aerial Applicators, a crop dusting service located in Southampton, notified me that Imidan would be sprayed in blueberry fields less than 100 feet from my hives. Imidan (Gowan Company) has a toxic residue and kills fish too.  Captan (Tomen Company) kills honeybee broods.
  
  If the owners of Wings AA really cared about the wetlands environment, don't you think they would be choosing to use the least hazardous pesticide for the job?
  
  Perhaps it is a simple matter of education?  Maybe Mr. Ferrarin of DEP should be encouraged revise the classes that farmers and applicators in CMP area receive?
  
  Why should honeybees have more rights than people? What if everyone within 150 feet of a farm, which uses pesticides, had the right to advance notice of pesticide application? 
  
  The informed public would demand the use of less toxic pesticides. The pesticide companies produce them, the farmers are just not choosing to use them, and the public is kept in the dark.
  
  The Jedju Family Big Sky Ranch POB 103 New Lisbon, NJ 08064 609-726-9693

  ---

  Hello, 

  Is agricultural pesticide use monitored by the Comprehensive Management Plan?  We would like to know what is being done to monitor the impact of organophosphates on groundwater, soil, and pollinating insects in the Pinelands?  We understand that Imidan, which has a residual toxicity and is highly toxic to fish and honeybees, is used by cranberry and blueberry farmers in the environmentally sensitive wetlands.  Currently IPM is voluntary.  But how many Pinelands farmers participate?  There is no list in Mr. Raymond Samulis's County Agriculture Extension Office.  There is no list in Mr. Nicoli Vorsa's Blueberry and Cranberry Research Center Office.  What is being done to monitor the impact of pesticides like Imidan and Lorsban on groundwater and soil in the Pinelands?

  ---

  From: Mary Hornor <helplink@njpines.state.nj.us>

  To: <saanen@bellatlantic.net>

  Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2000 3:10 PM

  Subject: Are they monitored? response

  > The Commission does not have a monitoring program specific to agricultural
  > use.