PROTEST AT JACUMBA FARM DRAWS PROMINENT COMMUNITY LEADERS

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By Miriam Raftery

 

September 18, 2011 (Jacumba) –Over 60 people turned out in Jacumba to call on the County to shut down Bornt & Sons Organic Farm, which experts and a San Diego Grand Jury have concluded is responsible for a severe eye gnat infestation plaguing the town.

 
Steve Van Zant, superintendent of Mountain Empire School District, several teachers from the Jacumba School, and Highland Senior Center president Lane Marshall joined with people of all ages including seniors, parents, and children. Major businesses in the community were also represented, uniting town leaders in calling on the County to intervene to protect public health.

 

 

“For years we have put up with the overbearing nuisance of the gnats from Bornt’s out of town farm operation,” says Desmond White, a Jacumba resident. “It is hurting the quality of life in our small community and he must be stopped!”

 

Myra Price, another Jacumba resident, agrees. “We moved here 11 years ago. It was a beautiful town,” she recalls. “We were able to sit outside in the afternoon with out of town family and guests and even barbeque. Now we are forced into our homes because of the eye gnats. Family and friends don’t visit as often and, when they do, they ask us why we continue living in Jacumba. We want the gnats to go away and restore our quality of life.”

 

Jacumba Highland Senior Citizens has a facility next door to Bornt’s farm. “For the last several years we have had eye gnats in and around the center. This has negatively impacted our Senior Nutrition Program,” Marshall observes. “The number of seniors who used to attend our Wednesday lunch and our Sunday breakfast has dropped significantly. The seniors state that they just do not want to come over as the eye gnats in and around the building attack them. This is a shame as our seniors not only need their nutrition but the Highland center was a place where they could get necessary socialization. Now they are isolated in their homes.”

 

Jacumba Against Gnats (JAG) contends that Bornt has failed to take appropriate steps to eliminate the gnat problem despite years of complaints and a contract in which he agreed to curb the problem.

 

Mischa Popoff, a former organic inspector trained by the International Organic Inspectors Association, says Bornt should have addressed the problem when it originated. “Why didn’t he deal with it several years ago?” he asked, noting that the severity of the problem has grown over time. “The onus is still on the farmer.”

 

Popoff noted that there are many “good” organic farmers who don’t cause such nuisances to their neighbors. “I’ve inspected over 500 of them,” says the inspector, who was trained in the U.S. and is now in Canada.

 

If organic methods of pest control fail to work, the farmer has the option to treat a portion of his land with chemicals without losing organic certification on his entire farm. Any portion treated with chemicals would normally lose certification for 36 months, though there are exceptions, and worse case the farmer would retain the option of growing conventional crops while awaiting recertification.

 

“There are stipulations in the National Organic Program…exceptions in the program that could potentially give him the out in this extreme circumstance to spray the entire farm,” Popoff said, adding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has the ability to cut the 36-month period down to just one or two years.

 

Supervisor Jacob, commenting on the issue in an ECM editorial last week, observed, “The community is in unchartered territory with an uncooperative farmer and sluggish County enforcement." 

 

While praising the goal of organic farming as positive, Jacob noted, "Since the farmer refuses to help, the County needs to move to a tougher strategy. My goal now is to see that the farmer reduces the gnats to an acceptable level that will eliminate adverse impacts on the people of Jacumba, or in the alternative, to shut down the farm.”

 

By not eradicating the gnats, which pose clear public health risks including pink eye and mastitis, the farmer risks a lawsuit should someone lose their eyesight or suffer other health effects, Popoff suggested. Negative impacts on livestock that become stressed and lose weight could also result in costly litigation.

 

“Any lawsuit could go right up the food chain,” Popoff concluded, “all the way up to the U.S. D.A. as well as the County, the farmer, and his inspector.”
 


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