Food safety comes first for Modesto, Stanislaus farmers

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, hand sanitizers and bleach wipes are now a part of our daily lives. Everyone understands that we need access to chemicals that kill the germs and viruses that can kill us.

We know it is possible to maintain strict standards of safety. Look at California farmers, especially those in Stanislaus County and other traditionally large agricultural communities that are now being increasingly urbanized. As Modesto and other bedroom communities have grown to encroach on rural areas, the importance of farm safety measures has intensified.

Fortunately, the Valley’s farmers are ahead of the game. For decades, they have possessed “safety-first” behaviors and practices now deeply ingrained in their DNA.

During the COVID-19 crisis, our farmers have continued to put food on the table and fill food banks while keeping their workers and communities safe. They have achieved this not by adopting new standards of safety, but by continuing to follow existing requirements for pesticide use and safe food handling.

Agriculture’s emphasis on safety has been the result of a lot of work, dedication and collaboration between farmers, their communities and government. Consider:

• Farmers continue to produce food because health and safety rules are the norm – not the emergency exception.
• California farmers have absolutely no interest in short cuts that compromise safety. They and their families work on the farm. They need healthy workers. They live in the community.
  
  
• Our farmers operate under the most restrictive safety standards in the country, if not the world. Long before COVID-19 became a household word, farmers and farm businesses were investing in the safety of their employees, communities and environment.
  
  
• Scientists with the United States Environmental Protection Agency and California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) conduct the most rigorous pesticide safety testing of anywhere in the world – more than 300 safety reviews before a product may even be considered for use.
  
  
• It takes more than seven years to register a pesticide in California.
  
  
• This is the same agency that regulates the sanitizers members of the public are comfortable using at levels that exceed recommended amounts.
  
  
• DPR also reviews products used by farmers to kill dangerous pests.
  
  
• Unlike the sanitizers that the public uses, DPR continues to regulate agricultural products after a purchase is made. Farmers may only purchase and use an approved pesticide if they receive a prescription from state-licensed experts, who dictate terms of every use.
  
  
• Agriculture follows a complex system of permitting, monitoring, inspections, and reporting to assure that products are only used as labeled.
  
  
• Farms provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to employees.
  
  
• Farm workers and professional pesticide advisers receive continuous education on the safe use of products, report all usage, and provide safety buffers around fields and additional precautionary buffers around sensitive sites like schools.
  
  
• To assure all these rules are followed, agricultural commissioners and DPR inspectors enforce high standards on farms and other agricultural businesses.
  
  
• These inspections cover federal, state, and local worker safety as well as environmental and health laws and regulations.

During this pandemic, farmers have continued to maintain these high safety standards – even around schools which are closed. They have not asked for any pesticide law or regulation to be suspended or relaxed.

Farmers continue to keep farmers markets, food banks, and grocery produce sections filled with healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables.

While those of us in towns and cities continue to live under special emergency orders that at some point will be relaxed, we can be secure in the knowledge that farmers will continue to protect their employees, communities and the consumers of their produce – long after the governor lifts his emergency orders.