09/04/2026
Let’s have a conversation about the least discussed topic in agriculture: SPRAYING. Like every post on this page my husband, the farmer, is as surprised as you every time he reads what I’ve written about the daily life of growing produce… and trust me- right now he’s got a lump the size of Texas in his throat, thinking: don’t do it, Linds- it can only hurt us. But I don’t just think the average consumer can handle the truth, I think they need it. And I think the conversation has been avoided for far too long, with undeserving American farmers taking it on the chin for the mistruths and unspoken omissions that pervade our industry. This post was precipitated by a comment on a recent unrelated post, a seemingly innocent comment with a much deeper insinuation that I just don’t want to skirt around any longer. Not because we have something to hide, but because WE DON’T. The comment was “do you spray?”…the implication was “are you hurting us?” And I must admit that chapped me worse than the cucumber plants I was talking about. So let’s get to it- I promise not to be defensive if you promise to have an open mind...
Last month I sat in a Mott’s meeting for apple producers and listened as they spoke about their target market- the ones they spend millions trying to reach. Women. Middle-aged. Middle-class. Married. With 2 or more children. Somewhat price sensitive but not at the expense of health-consciousness. And I realized I AM HER. Except I have 30 years of working for the most renowned apple consultants in the Northeast, if not beyond. I have a decade of apple scouting experience. Decades more of first-hand contract research. Decades of seeing spray records. Decades of co-running a farm. And I currently work for a successful biostimulant company. I didn’t get my education on TikTok and I don’t prescribe to the fearmongering of the predatory wellness industry. And I sit here writing this as a real person, not an AI bot, without even running it through an AI engine. Just a regular farmer's wife who is tired of seeing people duped by a system that feeds off an imaginary fear under the guise of making them healthier. And I believe the American consumer is eager for the truth and knowing what I know I also believe that we have more to gain than to lose by transparency. I am no expert but I DO work for them and with them, and maybe- just maybe- I have a perspective worth listening to.
Let’s start by talking about chemicals- as the daughter of someone dubbed ‘Chemical Ali’ in reference to the famous boxer I know something about them. A chemical is any substance that has a definite composition and is made of matter. Some chemicals are good for us, some are bad for us and some are neutral. And that goes for both naturally occurring and synthetic- or man-made- chemicals. Neither one is inherently good or bad by definition (before I lose some of you right here think rattlesnake venom and poison ivy- both natural, both not healthy). Should we all be limiting our chemical exposure & footprint? Yes, without a doubt. And I would argue that farmers- one of the most regulated industries that exists- do just that. NO ONE wants to spray- it contributes to our 3 highest expenditures- labor, equipment and crop production inputs. There is no reasonable explanation for spraying unless it contributes significantly to crop protection (unless you assume we all aspired to be the dumbest, least effective serial poisoners who picked the riskiest, least lucrative industry to do so). We are a lot of things but dumb is not one of them. And the American consumer has incredibly high expectations these days- desiring near perfect produce with nearly no inputs. The problem is that it is somewhat unrealistic. There are 1.4 billion bugs for every person on this earth, that should make the math crystal clear on how outnumbered we are in terms of keeping them off our shared dinner.
Back in the days of DDT and other harsher broad-spectrum chemicals, there was reason for concern. You could open up a can of whoop-a$$ and the flies would hit the ground mid-air. Was it effective and cheap? You better believe it. But as an industry we have been moving away from them for a long, long time for obvious reasons. Everything is an ecosystem- and our job is to strike the balance between keeping our crops clean without disturbing the rest of the critters in the environment. It’s a tall order and one that we face daily in an effort to do better. BILLIONS of dollars are spent each year on developing safer inputs- ones that are highly targeted and have as little to no other impact as possible. Stuff that is sprayed at such low rates that it’s talked about in PPM- or parts per million- meaning incredibly low amounts like mere OUNCES PER ACRE. These are not our grandfather’s pesticides. And they come at a high cost to us, yet increasingly we use them.
So why don’t we just not spray at all like the organic growers? And this premise right here is the biggest LIE (or lie by omission) in agriculture. ALL commercial growers spray- including organic. In some cases they spray much MORE often and at much HIGHER rates. Remember those 10 quintillion bugs? They don’t give a rats about your production theology. They don’t just buzz over to their conventional neighbors- in fact much the opposite. So let’s talk about what it is and what it is not. And it is CATEGORICALLY NOT unsprayed by any means. How we define ‘organic’ depends on whether or not we are talking about farming regulations or chemistry. Organic is a certification- a label that indicates that a food or agricultural product has been produced according to USDA Organic or OMRI regulations. The hobby farmer just growing food in their backyard? IS NOT ORGANIC under this definition. Am I telling you their produce is unsafe? Absolutely not- although they will not have the stamp of DEC, EPA, or any governing food safety bodies that we PAY to inspect us. REAL organic farmers are highly regulated too, even moreso than us conventional guys and gals. And the truth is that organic growers have less tools in their tool box and inevitably have to rely on them even more where necessary. Particularly places like this where the heavy disease pressure of Wayne (Rain) County makes it absolutely impossible to produce an apple crop without protective inputs- just plant a tree in your backyard and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Apples are a HIGHLY susceptible crop. It takes a lot of calculated effort to grow them cleanly whether you are organic or conventional. As I mentioned I have a decade under my belt scouting apple orchards- ie I spent every single summer as a young person looking for pests and disease. We all spray only when it’s necessary- and scouting is an effective method for inspecting thresholds as they climb vs waiting for crop-destroying infestations. There was almost no organic production here at that time but I will tell you that when I scouted it the amount of sulfur in that orchard literally stained my coveted Abercrombie jeans yellow. And when you wiped that very visible residue off the fruit, they were covered in sooty blotch and fly speck (don’t be confused by fly speck, it’s a disease not an insect but that’s not the point). Lime Sulfur is still a staple in the organic fungicide toolbox, but does that mean you should not eat organic? Of course not. Conventional growers use it too, although less so because we have more options.
The point is NOT that we are good and they are bad or vice versa. The point IS that organic is not inherently safer or healthier, and conventional is not the devil it has been made out to be. We are BOTH highly regulated (at least in the US). And we are BOTH safe. And the even better news is that both organic and conventional have come a long way in regards to our available tools. So let’s talk about some of the options you may not know about:
Biostimulants. I work for one of these companies, shout out to Ag Biotech, Inc. ! What are they? A biostimulant is any substance or microorganism applied to plants or soil to improve nutrition efficiency, stress tolerance, and crop quality without directly supplying nutrients. The flagship product I represent, Bio Shot, is derived from brassinosteroids (which come from the brassica family of plants) and triacontanol which is a natural fatty alcohol and plant growth stimulant found in beeswax, alfalfa, and the waxy outer cuticles of plants. Basically they promote the process of photosynthesis in any plant with green tissue. So safe I could cart it around in my minivan. Does this make it organic? No. Although the less shelf-stable fermented sister product with the exact same active ingredients is. I’m not here to make it make sense, I’m just telling you the rules by which we live and grow produce.
Mating disruption. Mating disruption is an eco-friendly pest control method that floods an orchard with synthetic insect s*x pheromones to prevent male moths from finding and mating with females. In other words, they most often confuse the male moths so they can’t tell other males from females. I bet when Steven Tyler of Aerosmith wrote ‘Dude Looks Like a Lady’ he didn’t have Codling Moth on his mind but that’s essentially what we are doing. Are all mating disruption technologies organic? Again no- although many are and more and more they are used if not to entirely replace than at least to supplement traditional pest control options.
Biofungicides and biopeptides. These are 2 categories of ‘biochemicals’ used in modern agriculture. They offer sustainable eco-friendly alternatives by using natural organisms or molecules to protect crops, enhance plant growth, and improve soil health. Are they all organic? The short answer is no, they are not always organic in the agricultural sense but they are entirely organic in the chemical sense. Confused yet? The reality is that it costs insane amounts of money to get both organic and conventional materials labeled for use- and sometimes the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze for every product in every market.
UV light exposure- a brand new one! This technology is in the very early stages of development but has seen some promising results in the grape industry on fungus reduction. Imagine a vertical tanning bed on wheels crawling through an orchard at a painfully slow rate of speed. The jury is still out on it’s success but I share it just to mention that if there’s a chance we can try softer methods, we’re lookin at em!
As I write this while I bake pies and cookies for the stand I have to wonder, is any of this interesting to you as the American consumer? I can only hope so. It should be. And what should you do about it? Pepper your local farmer with a barrage of questions? For the sake of my marriage and those of my fellow farmers- PLEASE DON’T. Trust us to do our jobs. Have a little faith is us and we’ll have a whole lot more trust in you. And remember that we are one of the most highly-regulated industries out there (rightfully so). But should you be curious about what you are ingesting? Absolutely. There are industries built on deceiving you. As Aristotle said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Modern day translation: don’t get your info from the internet. Listen to the voices of our producers- not the lobbyists, marketers, or anyone with an agenda other than helping people live a more healthy lifestyle. The American diet is under attack- but it is not the American farmer who is to blame. If you’ve got a bone to pick or an internet squabble to start, focus those efforts on those in the processed food market. Or the pharmaceutical industry. Or the “wellness” industry full of gurus who can’t tell a turnip from a tomato. Follow the money if you don’t believe a word I’ve said. Family farms are going out of business while these industries’ profits are at an all-time high. Remember that we are out here in the dirt, in the rain, in the heat FOR YOU. So please stop villainizing the American Farmer.
WE ARE THE GOOD GUYS.
AND WE GROW THE BEST STUFF ON EARTH.
Food for thought Friday…wish me luck dealing with my hard-working farmer for opening my big-farmer’s wife mouth.
Now back to those pies…🥧🚜❤️
