Ventura Farmer Cancels Plan to Use Methyl Bromide

As protesters organized for a final stand, an east Ventura farmer Tuesday canceled fumigation of a strawberry field near dozens of homes where residents last year complained they were sickened by drifting methyl bromide vapors.

Grower Raul Garcia agreed not to apply the potent pesticide this season to an 87-acre field at Ralston Street and Ramelli Avenue, according to sources familiar with negotiations between Garcia and nearby homeowners.

“This is what we’ve been striving for--they’re not going to be spraying this year in east Ventura,” one homeowner said.

Garcia could not be reached for comment.

But attorney Marc Chytilo of the Environmental Defense Center, the Santa Barbara law firm representing residents, confirmed that today’s scheduled fumigation has been canceled. A protest set for late Tuesday also was canceled without explanation, and Chytilo called a news conference for 4 p.m. today.

“It would be premature to disclose any of the details of these discussions,” Chytilo said. “We need to finalize our resolution. And that will be the thing announced tomorrow.”

Yet, sources said the deal has been struck.

“The grower had reasons for canceling,” one source said. “One was financial because the state increased the buffer zone. And the second was they were a little scared of the press that was coming for our protest.”

The announcement was delayed a day to give Garcia time to inform his workers, the source said.

County Agricultural Commissioner W. Earl McPhail said Garcia called his office shortly before noon Tuesday to postpone today’s fumigation, which was set to begin at 6:30 a.m.

“The grower’s going to hold off for at least 24 hours,” McPhail said. “They’re making some decisions.” McPhail, whose office issues pesticide permits locally, said Garcia offered no explanation for the delay.

Residents had already scored a partial victory last week, when the state Department of Pesticide Regulation approved Garcia’s permit to use methyl bromide only under an unusually strict set of new guidelines that cut many acres off the effective planting size of his field.

State regulators last week increased the buffer zone between methyl bromide-treated soil and homeowners’ property lines from the usual 30 feet to 250 feet.

Tests of Ventura weather conditions indicated that the usual buffer zone was not wide enough to fully protect residents from pesticide vapors that could drift over them, officials explained.

Regulators would also allow Garcia to treat only one 10-acre patch at a time. And they forced him to wait 36 hours before sterilizing the next patch, an unusually stiff restriction that extended the application period from a few days to about three weeks.

Despite acknowledging the state restrictions as a step in the right direction, concerned residents pressed on with demands that the fumigation be canceled altogether.

Chytilo said he had been negotiating with Garcia’s attorney since the state’s ruling Friday.

Some residents declined comment on the apparent agreement until it is formally announced today.

But resident Ardas Khalsa, who had helped organize Tuesday’s aborted protest, said he and his neighbors are determined to turn back all future attempts by Garcia to use methyl bromide near their homes.

“Next year, if they try this again, we’re going to be prepared,” he said.

Before word of the deal began to spread, four homeowners said Tuesday that they intended to move their families into relatives’ homes or hotels during fumigation.

Lynda Uvari, whose home backs up to the Montalvo Ranch field, was among those whose family suffered flu-like symptoms for two weeks a year ago, she said.

“I don’t think there’s any safe buffer zone,” she said. “We just don’t know what the health risks really are in the long term.”

State and local regulators, however, have consistently reassured residents that the rules governing methyl bromide are extremely stringent and that they are safe.

“I tell them the same thing I’ve said all along,” McPhail said. “As long as everything is done legally and by the labels, there should be absolutely no problems whatsoever. All the scientific data has said there is not a problem.”

Methyl bromide is a highly toxic pesticide most commonly used in strawberry fields, where farmers say it greatly enhances the yield of each field. They say that, at this point, there is no effective substitute for it.

The fumigant is used on about 5,000 acres of strawberry fields in Ventura County. It is also used on other crops and to sterilize fruit for export.