Comment submitted by Matthew Q. (no surname provided)
AnonymousSupportIndividual
Summary: A small-scale organic farmer from South Carolina supports the proposed fungicide strategy, advocating for stricter regulations and tougher requirements. The commenter argues that current regulations are too lax, leading to over-use and drift that harms small producers, neighbors, and the environment.
Hello, thanks for taking the time to hear my comment. I live in the SE, particularly in South Carolina, where I know disease pressure is high. I operate a very small farm, on my own land. I seldom use fungicides, but do understand the need for them in certain situations & applications. With this being said, I also have lived in several areas of the state, near larger farms, and have had to contend with herbicide, pesticide, and fungicide drift. This is very concerning. I applaud the attempt to regulate these chemicals more stringently. I know many larger producers will push back, especially those using planes & drones, but I urge you all to consider the overall environment, small producers that may be affected by unintended drift (organic producers like myself), and various other effects of weak regulation. I think many of these fungicides are over used due to ease of access, ease of legality to broad spray (ie aerial), and lax legal responsibility for chemical companies. Please look out for the rest of us down here (ie small, organic producers, simple neighborhoods, and environmental integrity). Without proper fungicide guardrails, large producers tend to become lazy and over (& -mis) use many toxic chemicals. The art of farming has largely been lost due to over reliance on chemical farming & lax regulation on these chemicals. We all suffer when these toxic compounds are allowed to be used unchecked. Thank you for your time, please consider tougher fungicide requirements (ie stricter regulations).