Spray Drift Damages
As most farmers know, an entire crop can be wiped out due to pesticide drift. In recent years, more and more cases of spray drift damage to farms throughout Florida and the Southeast are occurring with more frequency. Not taking immediate action can hurt a farmer’s chances to recover potential damages against the person or business that caused the pesticide to drift. Below are a few important steps that a farmer should immediately take.
- Document, document, document — It is extremely important to start documenting suspected damage as soon as possible. You should immediately walk the entire farm or field and take note of all the damage. You should also:
- Take photographs of the damaged plants or crop.
- Take video of the damaged plants or crop.
- Take video of any applicator spraying in the surrounding area.
- Pull damaged plants as samples to send off to your local extension agent or laboratory.
- Update your spray log.
- Take photographs of all labels/sprays you have used.
- Identify the names of the applicators on neighboring farms, if any.
- Check for evidence of another cause.
- Contact your State Agency – If in Florida, you should contact the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (“FDACS”). Once contacted, FDACS will send its own investigators to help gather information and determine the cause of the problem.
- Talk with your neighbors – doing this can help further gather information by finding out who is spraying, what is being sprayed, and whether anyone else has suffered similar damage.
- Contact your local spray drift agriculture lawyer at Slater l Grant – Damages to a crop from spray drift can result in significant monetary losses to the injured farm and farmer. Our attorneys grew up in the Florida farming industry. The spray drift agriculture attorneys at Slater l Grant apply real-world knowledge and experience toward solving the legal issues facing farmers, and have years of experience representing farmers and other agri-business landowners in seeking compensation for damages to farms and crops due to spray drift damage.
Pesticide spray drift can ruin your farm. Understanding the steps one should take if your farm has suspected spray drift damage can greatly improve your chances of recovering damages if the spray drift was due to the negligence of others.