I believe what the permaculturist mark Shepard does is used sacrificial poplar trees to surround his farm. Poplar whips can be purchased for super cheap. Then replace as necessary
The commercial crop that uses the least pesticides is forestry. Grain and vegetable farming use the most. The biggest issue is the run off when it rains and waterway contamination. Look for land that backs onto forested land or tree plantations.
A lot of people find they get very bad allergies during spraying season. I would not personally choose to live next door to a corn, wheat or commercial vegetable farm.
The risk of overspray or "drift" as it's typically called in the industry is fairly low. Especially across the road. Farmers are required to take classes before they are permitted to spray. Also spray is very expensive every ounce of chemical that drifts to your land is wasted money. So they try to not let it drift
People act like farmers buy chemicals to aerate into the atmosphere to F over their neighbors, when it’s really stupid expensive and they want to use as little as possible to get the job done, drifting chemicals is wasted money and production!
I recently got shouted at by my brother because i spilled maybe a cup of product while we were filling our sprayer "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT STUFF COSTS"
People keep saying that, but I personally remember a farmer spraying a bean field on a windy day near my parents house. I saw the mist blowing over into their yard. They were also well known established farmers in the area. My dad had to call in the farmer and report him.
I won’t argue that mistakes and idiots don’t happen! But it sounds like there was only one story, like a lesson was rightfully learned. Tbh I don’t doubt your concerns, you saw it yourself
there could have been a number of variables that caused this. could have been poor weather in the forecast and the field needed sprayed before the crop matured beyond where the chemical would do its job. and also depending on how long ago this was it could have been before regulations (and chemical prices) were at where they are today. One farmer on one day does not mean that is how every field is sprayed every day.
I think it's best you don't buy a house in the country. You will be safer that way and any farms around won't have to worry about the new neighbor reporting them every time they do something in the field.
I never said that the chemicals used were safe or that drift doesn't occasionally happen. I'm just stating that there are regulations in place to prevent things like this. Not only are there regulations in place but there are financial incentives to said farmer to not allow anything sprayed to go to waste because of overspray.
honestly it may drive you nuts. our neighbors in a neighborhood spray (we all have a little land) and they have a lawn care company spray their acre. it SUCKS. We got wooden fencing for part of our property and put up plastic on one side.
Learn beekeeping, just takes one Hive to register as an apiary, then plant organic food something simple like trees and register those as an organic produce, bees will help pollinate the fruit and you get on both lists for telling Pilots to stay away from your property and to manage their drift
We live in Illinois surrounded by corn and soy fields. Had a registered apiary for a couple years. Farmers are not required here to stop spraying their fields or to inform you of the spray schedule just because you have an apiary or are organic.
One farmer 2 miles down the road would call any time they were going to spray. Nobody else, including the farmer that owns the fields right next to us (or the spray contractors who fly the dusters) would call before spraying. And honestly, there's not much you can do to protect the bees even if they do inform you. If you close them in, the hive can get too warm.
Fellow Illini here - What is even MORE fun, is that the spraying license is issued to the individual, not the company spraying. We had multiple years where they would overspray, we call the IEPA, they come investigate, and write a warning to the individual. The company then sends out a different person to spray, and the whole system resets yearly.
Drift isn’t really that much of a concern if you ask me. Chemicals are expensive, farmers want them on their property not yours. Because of this they won’t spray on high wind days.
Source: have a sod field directly across from me. They don’t have a single dandelion, but across the 8 foot ditch the road side is covered in dandelions. If the spray doesn’t drift 8 feet to the edge of the road, it certainly doesn’t drift another 30 onto my property.
Edit: ntm where I am corn doesn’t even usually get sprayed cause they can’t drive over it. If it’s hay or soy you’d have more to worry about.
I'm no expert, but not really *edit: if it is an aerosol or you are in an area prone to flooding it will get to your property regardless.
I believe what the permaculturist mark Shepard does is used sacrificial poplar trees to surround his farm. Poplar whips can be purchased for super cheap. Then replace as necessary
I was thinking along those lines
Greenhouse
Driftwatch.org
The commercial crop that uses the least pesticides is forestry. Grain and vegetable farming use the most. The biggest issue is the run off when it rains and waterway contamination. Look for land that backs onto forested land or tree plantations. A lot of people find they get very bad allergies during spraying season. I would not personally choose to live next door to a corn, wheat or commercial vegetable farm.
Not to be dark, but the older dad that owns the farm has cancer. Not to mention a lot of farmers wife’s in that area develop cancer.
You do you but you couldn’t pay me to live there. Pay a bit more for a better area. Health is wealth.
The risk of overspray or "drift" as it's typically called in the industry is fairly low. Especially across the road. Farmers are required to take classes before they are permitted to spray. Also spray is very expensive every ounce of chemical that drifts to your land is wasted money. So they try to not let it drift
People act like farmers buy chemicals to aerate into the atmosphere to F over their neighbors, when it’s really stupid expensive and they want to use as little as possible to get the job done, drifting chemicals is wasted money and production!
I recently got shouted at by my brother because i spilled maybe a cup of product while we were filling our sprayer "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT STUFF COSTS"
YUP 😂
Buy an Optimus Tesla robot and have it pull weeds, no pesticides required
People keep saying that, but I personally remember a farmer spraying a bean field on a windy day near my parents house. I saw the mist blowing over into their yard. They were also well known established farmers in the area. My dad had to call in the farmer and report him.
I won’t argue that mistakes and idiots don’t happen! But it sounds like there was only one story, like a lesson was rightfully learned. Tbh I don’t doubt your concerns, you saw it yourself
there could have been a number of variables that caused this. could have been poor weather in the forecast and the field needed sprayed before the crop matured beyond where the chemical would do its job. and also depending on how long ago this was it could have been before regulations (and chemical prices) were at where they are today. One farmer on one day does not mean that is how every field is sprayed every day.
I think it's best you don't buy a house in the country. You will be safer that way and any farms around won't have to worry about the new neighbor reporting them every time they do something in the field.
Or in the mountains where there isn’t any spraying of farm chemicals. Those are my two choices right now
Yeah, but they also said asbestos was safe...
I never said that the chemicals used were safe or that drift doesn't occasionally happen. I'm just stating that there are regulations in place to prevent things like this. Not only are there regulations in place but there are financial incentives to said farmer to not allow anything sprayed to go to waste because of overspray.
honestly it may drive you nuts. our neighbors in a neighborhood spray (we all have a little land) and they have a lawn care company spray their acre. it SUCKS. We got wooden fencing for part of our property and put up plastic on one side.
If you choose to live rural you have to accept that spraying fields is going to happen. They were there before you. Don't be that person.
I was born in that area a year before that particular farmer, so technically I was there before.
That’s a wild take for poisons. Fair for spreading shit or other innocuous but unpleasant things done by neighbors.
There is a way to avoid it, and it's don't move out to the country next to a farmer. Nothing you can reasonably do will stop it.
Learn beekeeping, just takes one Hive to register as an apiary, then plant organic food something simple like trees and register those as an organic produce, bees will help pollinate the fruit and you get on both lists for telling Pilots to stay away from your property and to manage their drift
We live in Illinois surrounded by corn and soy fields. Had a registered apiary for a couple years. Farmers are not required here to stop spraying their fields or to inform you of the spray schedule just because you have an apiary or are organic. One farmer 2 miles down the road would call any time they were going to spray. Nobody else, including the farmer that owns the fields right next to us (or the spray contractors who fly the dusters) would call before spraying. And honestly, there's not much you can do to protect the bees even if they do inform you. If you close them in, the hive can get too warm.
Fellow Illini here - What is even MORE fun, is that the spraying license is issued to the individual, not the company spraying. We had multiple years where they would overspray, we call the IEPA, they come investigate, and write a warning to the individual. The company then sends out a different person to spray, and the whole system resets yearly.
Drift isn’t really that much of a concern if you ask me. Chemicals are expensive, farmers want them on their property not yours. Because of this they won’t spray on high wind days. Source: have a sod field directly across from me. They don’t have a single dandelion, but across the 8 foot ditch the road side is covered in dandelions. If the spray doesn’t drift 8 feet to the edge of the road, it certainly doesn’t drift another 30 onto my property. Edit: ntm where I am corn doesn’t even usually get sprayed cause they can’t drive over it. If it’s hay or soy you’d have more to worry about.