Court Rules Pesticide Drifting Onto Organic Farm Constitutes Trespass

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

Source: Star Tribune via Cryptogon.com

Oluf Johnson's 1,500-acre farm in Stearns County is an organic island in a sea of chemically treated corn and soybeans.

Improperly applied pesticides repeatedly drift over from neighboring farms, often with dire consequences for Johnson. But now, thanks to a new court ruling, he and other farmers can sue to recover their losses.

Letting damaging chemicals cross property lines is trespassing, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled on Monday. Moreover, since those pesticides made his crop unsalable in the organic market, Johnson is entitled to damages from the company that applied it, the Paynesville Farmers Union Cooperative Oil Co., the court said.

Hayden's Note:

This is certainly an amazing step towards leveling the playing field against the bio-tech terrorists such as Monsanto and Dow, with their Blackwater Field Investigators, never-ending pocketbooks and FDA cronies.  I'm certainly going to be following this case and will update with pertinent information, such as if it goes to the state Supreme Court or how it might effect cases in other states.  Finally, a Judge not so afraid of the terrorists.  Kinda makes ya feel good, eh?

“Whenever this happens it will give people with overspray a legal avenue to pursue,” said Doug Spanier, an attorney with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, which administers pesticide enforcement regulations in the state. And that could go for any farmer whose crop is made inedible by someone else's chemical spray and even homeowners whose property has been damaged by a neighbor's overuse of RoundUp, legal experts said.

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