An open letter to B.C. and Federal Ministers of Environment and Agriculture:
Dear Ministers:
I am an Organic Seabuckthorn farmer in the Village of Midway.
There are 16,306 deaths yearly from poisons in the U.S. There are signs all over the area, including the Trans-Canada-Trail that runs along my property that the area has been sprayed with poisons for weeds. This has been going on for years now.
This year, this area has many times more grasshoppers than we normally have had. About 400 of my orchard trees are completely bare from grasshoppers, and most of the trees around my residence are bare with extensive damage.
Noticeably absent this year are the birds. There is not a bird in sight anywhere. Is there a connection between the spraying of poisons in the area and the missing birds? Could spraying of the Trans-Canadatrail or the highways have poisoned the birds?
People cannot live without safe food and water. Birds eat thousands of insects.
Can the people affected by this unbalance of nature in this and possibly other areas of B.C. get information on why we have such an increase in crop losses from insects, and what will be done to correct the problem?
Gladys Brown,
Midway