Till a couple of years in the past, Songbird Farm in Unity, Maine, grew wheat, rye, oats, and corn, in addition to an array of greens in three excessive tunnel greenhouses, and supported a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program for over 100 prospects. It was a profitable farm, says Adam Nordell, that supported he and his spouse Johanna Davis, their two youngsters, and an worker.
Songbird Farm (Picture credit score: Jenny McNulty)
Maine had been spreading what is known as sludge on its farmland and fields for the reason that Nineteen Eighties. The fittingly named sludge is a mixture of wastewater and sewage, and its software on farms has been seen as a technique to hold waste out of waterways and feed fields.
For years, software of sludge in Maine was thought to be protected, because it was in quite a few different states; a 1994 booklet from the EPA claimed that the “helpful software of biosolids to offer crop vitamins or to situation the soil isn’t solely protected however good public coverage.” The state later found, nevertheless, that the sludge contained dangerous PFAS.
The sources of contamination have been quite a few. As soon as the Clear Water Act handed in 1972, many chemical substances and toxins that had flowed freely from paper mills into Maine’s rivers began to be processed by sewage crops. Moreover, endlessly chemical substances that appeared in cleansing chemical substances, make-up, and nonstick pans made their method down family drains and ended up in native sewage crops.
The biosolids created as sewage breaks down can be utilized as fertilizer on farmland, a follow that the Environmental Safety Company nonetheless touts as “helpful,” though spreading these extremely poisonous chemical substances throughout farmland permits the compounds to leach into the groundwater, contaminate crops grown on the land, and have an effect on grazing animals.
The spreading of sludge as fertilizer in Maine was documented because of licensing necessities to use biosolids. In late 2021, the Maine DEP recognized 60 websites the place 10,000 cubic yards of biosolids have been utilized as fertilizer with properties inside half an acre of the appliance, a follow the company known as “Tier 1” as a result of it offered the very best threat to human well being.
The state started testing soil and water samples from these websites, which included Songbird Farm, within the fall of 2021. As well as, it started to check greater than a thousand websites with decrease ranges of contamination in 2023. Whereas the affected websites are located throughout the state, most are concentrated in agricultural areas.
By the spring of 2022, greater than 50 farms in Tier 1 areas realized they’d excessive ranges of endlessly chemical substances of their merchandise, their fields, and their water. Some farms have been in a position to cease manufacturing briefly whereas they recognized potential options. Nevertheless, a number of farmers, together with Nordell and Davis, have been compelled to shut up store completely. Farmers have been hurting, customers have been anxious, and Maine’s meals system seemed to be in disaster.
“From an agriculture perspective, we wish the soil to return out the opposite facet usable and wholesome. However within the meantime, we’ve adopted the truism that PFAs wouldn’t have to imply the top of a farm, and there could also be different choices.”
Whereas the Environmental Working Group has estimated that over 2 million acres of farmland throughout america have been unfold with sludge, solely Maine and Michigan have completed important testing for chemical contamination of farmland. The spreading of sludge as fertilizer stays authorized in all U.S. states other than Maine, the place it was outlawed in 2022.
Scientists are nonetheless piecing collectively what occurred within the state, nevertheless it’s clear that some endlessly chemical contamination has additionally come from different waste supplies, resembling jet gas and firefighting foam, notably in Northern Maine, in and across the former residence of the Loring Air Drive Base.
Right now, most of the Maine farms initially affected are operational once more. Whereas Songbird Farm is not commercially productive, Nordell now works for Defend Our Well being, a neighborhood group devoted to eradicating toxins from the atmosphere. A collection of particular fundraisers and an emergency reduction fund helped to maintain farms afloat within the aftermath of the invention, and since then, some have modified what they develop or altered their crops. Others have been in a position to relieve the issue by water therapies and elimination of affected hay and manure. And a few are contemplating constructing photo voltaic arrays as a substitute of farming.
“We try to be as optimistic as potential that there might be possible scientific methods sooner or later,” says Nancy McBrady, deputy commissioner of the Maine Division of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry (DACF). “From an agriculture perspective, we wish the soil to return out the opposite facet usable and wholesome. However within the meantime, we’ve adopted the truism that PFAs wouldn’t have to imply the top of a farm, and there could also be different choices.”
First Steps: Supporting Farmers and Conducting Analysis
In January of 2022, as the extent of contamination turned clear, the Maine Farmland Belief, which holds easements on most of the farms that have been instantly affected by contamination, organized with the DACF and the Maine Natural Farmers and Gardeners Affiliation (MOFGA) to work with the farmers who have been now with out a livelihood, offering them with earnings alternative for misplaced crops.
Monetary help from the PFAS Emergency Reduction Fund assists with direct financial help and covers to value of biosolids testing, well being protection for affected farmers, and has additionally been used to spend money on infrastructure for PFAS reduction and remediation.
“We offer a continuum of help,” McBrady says DACF’s Brady of the collective effort. “Initially, we’re on the bottom doing scientific evaluation of the supply of the PFAS with complete testing that we pay for. This offers a blueprint of the state of affairs and supplies a possibility to think about mitigation methods resembling altering the rotation of livestock, cleansing up the water, or attempting a unique crop.”
Along with soil and water testing, the emergency fund additionally covers continued product testing, permitting farmers to return their items to retailer cabinets with confidence. In an effort to embrace full transparency, some affected farms even publish their PFAS take a look at outcomes on their web sites. Testing, nevertheless, is just step one in the direction of regaining use of PFAS contaminated farmland.
