AU: No legal action after herbicide drift
The Environment Protection Authority has investigated the case but says it won't be launching any legal action.
Farmer Rodney Haynes says the damage is done but it should serve as a warning for people to be careful of their neighbour's farm production and the weather conditions when they are spraying.
The Environment Protection Authority has completed its investigation into the damage done to the Tenterfield crop last year, but won't be pursuing legal action.
Manager of the northern region EPA Simon Smith says the herbicide drift was most likely 2,4 D, but it is a chemical that leaves little trace. He says the crop loss should make other farmers take notice of their neighbours crops and what they can do to avoid damaging it.
"What we are seeing is an expansion of vegetable crops and also grapevines particularly in the Tenterfield area," he said. "Wherever you see that, particularly with grapes and tomatoes, where you have exisiting pastures and people needing to spay weeds in those pastures you end up with this sort of conflict happening. People need to spray but in doing that spraying they need to be conscious in what's happening around them and what types of crops are there, so it's about the weather conditions, the types of equipment they use, there are predictive tools online."
source: abc.net.au