To: The Missouri State House and The Missouri State Senate
Don't spray our rights of way
Eating locally is a healthful idea, foiled by the current tendency for those who establish rights of way to buy the products of chemical producers and "control vegetation" by means of sprays instead of manual methods.
Those of us who produce and consume local products have found that the sprays don't stay at the roadside, they rise on updrafts and rain down, despoiling established orchards, gardens, and ultimately our once pristine groundwater as they soak in.
Those of us who produce and consume local products have found that the sprays don't stay at the roadside, they rise on updrafts and rain down, despoiling established orchards, gardens, and ultimately our once pristine groundwater as they soak in.
Why is this important?
Our 300 tree apple orchard, with30 varieties has been lost to the use of herbicides on roadsides and by power providers. It took 25 yeasr to build an agribusiness which produced 500 to 800 bushels per year. Even more serious, the quality of all Missouri water is affected by the fact that every road and every right of way in this state gets chemical treatment, sometimes several times a year.