Purchasing land in the chemical age
Herbicide drift is no joke.
Buying land and starting an organic farm, homestead, or permaculture paradise is a seriously exciting undertaking. Perhaps the most important part is finding the land upon which to grow, as this will shape all your future adventures. It comes with its own set of pitfalls, though, which can often remain hidden throughout the land buying process. One of the most frustrating is the possibility of herbicide drift, an issue when purchasing land near conventional farms.
Imagine tending to a crop of heirloom tomatoes, lovingly strung up on trellises, taking hours of labor, relying on the fruit they produce to pay for your bills. Now imagine on one hot and breezy day, and your neighbor is spraying his corn with herbicide. He wasn’t paying attention, and continues to spray even when the wind picks up.
You didn’t see it immediately, but over the next few weeks your entire crop of tomatoes contorts, as if being tortured, and stops growing, as if infected with a strange pathogen. Your tomatoes don’t produce, and you don’t get to pay your bills on time.
At least tomatoes are annuals. Replace tomatoes with hazelnuts or grapes, and you have hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage, or even more.
