By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

PEORIA, Ill. — If a bill is introduced in the Illinois legislature that will place stringent new regulations – including possibly requiring 24-hour advance notice to neighbors of crop-spraying targets – it will likely be defeated, according to the president of the Illinois Chemical & Fertilizer Assoc. (IFCA).

Speaking to many of the 1,300 IFCA members who attended the organization’s annual convention last week in downtown Peoria, Jean Payne summarized the IFCA’s and Illinois Agricultural Aviation Assoc.’s (IAAA) efforts over the past year to educate and inform the Illinois Senate Agricultural Committee – and its special subcommittee on fertilizers and chemicals, led by Peoria Democrat David Koehler – about aerial applications of crop protection products.

Payne, IFCA president, said the education process, which is ongoing, has not been easy. She pointed to a press release issued last year by Koehler’s office, titled “Aerial Drift From Fertilizer Applications,” as an example of the frustrations she is encountering in trying to educate legislators, the press and the public about the agricultural chemical industry.

The press release should have been titled “Aerial Drift From Pesticide Applications.”

“I called Senator Koehler and his staff and explained for a half an hour the difference between pesticides and fertilizers,” Payne said, to appreciative laughter.

Levity aside, she admitted certain issues brought to light by those who attended a special hearing in front of the Illinois Senate’s fertilizer and chemical subcommittee on Sept. 30, 2009, were valid. One was raised by Paul Hahn, owner of Mackinaw Valley Winery & Vineyards and a member of the Illinois Vintners and Grape Growers Assoc.

Payne replayed video of Hahn’s testimony, which covered many issues of concern to specialty crop growers and ended with a warning: Genetically-engineered soybean varieties resistant to 2,4-D-type pesticides are in the product pipeline.

“(Introducing) soybeans resistant to 2,4-D will increase the use of 2,4-D in this state,” Hahn cautioned, adding the news is unwelcome to growers of sensitive specialty crops living in proximity to farmers who use such pesticides. “(Hahn’s) comment about the future is something we will have to deal with.”

Hahn, also a corn and soybean producer, said a neighbor’s careless use of pesticides caused significant damage to his vineyard last year. Payne said she spoke with Hahn, whom she respects, and asked if he had tried to engage the neighbor and come to an amicable settlement.

Hahn responded that he had not, according to Payne, who used the example to point out that communication and respect are key components in reaching an understanding between rural neighbors on either side of Illinois’ aerial spraying issue.

“We (favor) a solution that’s proactive and non-regulatory,” Payne said. She also announced the launching of a new website at www.driftwatch.org to serve as an information clearinghouse for aerial crop applicators and rural residents.

Noting that no members of the Senate subcommittee on fertilizer and chemicals are involved in production agriculture, Payne said “(the members) support us, they think ag is important to the state, but they have no concept of what we do every day for a living.”
If a bill is introduced in the Illinois legislature in 2010, however, Payne said the IFCA feels confident it can be defeated – with a price.

“The Farm Bureau is lockstep with us and the IAAA is lockstep with us, but (defeating the bill) still won’t be pretty,” she said. Negative publicity from mainstream media will be among the fallout from defeating the bill, Payne predicted.

Also speaking on the subject of spray drift was Dr. Bob Wolf, a researcher and extension expert from Kansas State University. He outlined a program implemented by the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s fertilizer and pesticide program, called “Project Good Neighbor.”

Under the program, farmers and specialty crop growers register the locations of their sensitive crops and post them with signs. Applicators are directed to consult the website when planning their spraying schedules, and are advised to use common sense to avoid areas with sensitive crops on windy days.

“I’m going to encourage that the program you are working on in Illinois kind of take the shape of this (program),” said Wolf, who also gave a presentation on low-volume spraying techniques. He said he is a grape grower who has lost a crop because of drift from 2,4-D pesticide.