‘Cure’ Could Kill Organic Farms, Say Operators : Agriculture: Malathion campaign would violate the guarantee that their produce is grown without chemicals, two declare.

Malathion will kill Medflies, no doubt. But it also will kill business for two organic farms inside the 16-square-mile spray zone.

The twice-weekly rain of pesticide on Paul Carpenter’s place and John Wooten’s tiny spread will violate the guarantee that their food is grown without chemicals, the two organic farmers said Sunday. The six-month spray program could even put them out of business.

Wooten on Sunday strolled the soft earth of a 3.5-acre patch off Mesa Road where he has grown organic vegetables and fruit for 20 years.

“My commitment to organic farming is not just a business, it’s a way of life,” he said, fingering fragrant sprigs of basil. “I feel these would be unsuitable for my clients and my organic status if they are sprayed. . . . I don’t know how I’m going to eat, myself, because I eat from my own garden.”

Carpenter, the owner of a 20-acre vegetable farm near Mission Oaks Boulevard, is even more blunt. “It’s very possible I’ll dry up and blow away,” said Carpenter, who runs the farm with his wife, Mary. “How can you not have a paycheck for six months?”

Even worse, just one malathion spraying could ruin Carpenter’s promise of growing organic produce, he said. State and federal guidelines require that farmland must be free of artificial pesticides and fertilizers for at least three years before farmers can declare the produce is organically grown, he said.

Wholesale profits from selling the tainted produce on the non-organic market would not be enough to support the farm, he said.

“If you’re farming 1,000 acres, it’s a different story,” Carpenter said. Malathion “will take our organic status and throw it in the trash can. . . . The people that buy our stuff want organic produce.”

Too bad, says the California Department of Food and Agriculture--everything in the 16-square-mile spray zone must be spritzed with malathion to save the county’s rich agricultural market.

“We have concern and sympathy for anybody who’s in the spray zone,” said Carla Agar, a spokeswoman for the department. “We have to take action based on what’s in the best interest for the entire population. . . . We hope they’ll understand, with any hardships they may endure, and be as reasonable as possible with us given the situation we’re put in.”

Carpenter said he is somewhat resigned.

“Ventura County has a huge citrus and avocado industry they have to protect, and it’s worth a lot of money to everybody in the county,” he said.

“I think this pest has to be eradicated. I just wish they didn’t have to eradicate me along with it,” Carpenter said. “My basic concern is that the state and the county really didn’t think about everybody before they started doing this. . . . They’re not concerned about us. It just doesn’t mean that much to them.”

Wooten, however, was not taking it lying down.

Sunday, he attended a meeting of Camarillo residents who hope to gum up the works of the malathion movement, and offered to join in the fight.

But Wednesday night’s impending spraying has him stymied.

He had just bought six months worth of seeds and organic fertilizer when word of the Medfly infestation came, he said, and now he faces the possibility of shutting down for at least six months.

Wooten said he is thinking about switching to ornamental flowers, but he worries the spray could damage them as easily as it does car paint.

“I’m virtually at wits’ end,” Wooten said. “Everyone’s afraid of their car, they’re not afraid of their health. They say, ‘Oh, my car!’ I say, ‘Oh, your health! ‘ “