As the summer growing season approaches, farmers across the county are experiencing widespread frustration over the federal H-2A visa program for seasonal agriculture workers.<

In Idaho, farmers such as Jim Little of Emmett say they need immigrant workers from Latin America but that the government is making it too hard for them to follow the rules and employ workers legally instead of hiring border jumpers.

“It seems like they take great joy in piling on minutia and things we have to do,” said Little, a grain and hay farmer whose family has used foreign labor.

A bipartisan group of six U.S. senators, from Idaho, Florida, Ohio, Colorado and Wyoming, recently wrote the Department of Labor to express concerns with the system “and its serious implication on producers and our nation’s food supply.”

Frustration over the visa program helped drive Little’s daughter, Rochelle Oxarango, and her husband mostly out of the Idaho sheep ranching business.

“We needed four new workers from Peru. I started the paperwork in July and our workers didn’t arrive until February,” Oxarango said in an interview. “It’s really hard to depend on a program that takes that long to get workers here. We had to sell most of our sheep last year and this was one of the driving factors, it was just getting too hard to manage the labor situation.”

It’s a growing problem, according to Michaelene Rowe of the Snake River Farmers Association, an Idaho-based group that helps farmers with visa issues. Getting a temporary H-2A visa for a foreign farm worker to work in the United States is a confusing and painful process for an employer who is trying to follow the rules and only hire legal workers, Rowe said.

“This is counterproductive to the national discussion and political rhetoric related to the need to employ only legally documented workers,” she said.

Employers say that to use the program they have to deal with complicated paperwork and go through multiple federal agencies: the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State. The recent letter to the Labor Department from the six senators – Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Jim Risch, R-Idaho – cited “numerous cases in which unnecessary administrative delays resulted in not having enough labor to perform needed work.”

“Users routinely bring to our attention cases where applications are delayed or denied because of minor discrepancies related to language or officers applying an unreasonable degree of scrutiny that results in costly appeals to taxpayers,” the senators complained. They are asking for the three federal agencies who administer the program to hold regional meetings with farmers around the country to talk about solutions to the problem.

Assistant Labor Secretary Jane Oates said in a written statement that her department has been working with farmers to process applications more efficiently. That includes a revamped Website, an employer handbook and an ombudsman program to deal with issues, she said

She said that the department considers 85 percent of its final decisions on the visas to be issued in a timely manner and that it certifies the vast majority of applications.

The Labor Department reports that it certified 68,088 positions through the program last year. “We know that employers with legitimate needs are successfully using the H-2A program,” Oates said.

It’s not just farmers who have concerns with the H-2A program. The United Farm Workers of America says the foreign workers are easy to abuse.

“The concern is that H-2A workers in agriculture are the most vulnerable, exploitable workers out there, in large part because their ability to remain legally in the United States is entirely dependent on the goodwill of their employer,” said Erik Nicholson, national vice president of the union, which is based in California.

“And there has been case after case where, when workers articulate complaints, be it a lack of hand-washing facilities, toilet paper, underpayment of wages, substandard housing, that rather than responsibly addressing those concerns, the employer retaliates by discharging the worker,” Nicholson said.

The Department of Labor emphasized that growers can obtain the legal foreign labor only after they’ve first recruited U.S. workers and given them a fair shot at the job.

But Idaho growers said that’s part of the problem, with farmers required to hire and train Americans even if they have a Mexican worker ready who’s skilled, experienced and trusted.

Rowe, of the Snake River Farmers Association, said most H-2A users employ some Americans. But she said the required additional U.S. worker recruitment process has turned out to be a ”miserable failure that frustrates most program participants.”

“This often comes from their own experiences when local workers fail to show up, work a few days and quit, or perform work in an unsatisfactory manner,” she said.

Idaho farmer Danny Ferguson has four H-2A workers at his barley, wheat, cattle and specialty hay farm. He said he needs seasonal work and there’s not a surplus of skilled Americans willing to do what it takes. Too often the U.S. workers “are lazy, don’t want to be there, don’t want to put in the time and don’t do anything,” he said.

“The problem with the program is that as long as we have an H-2A employee we basically have an opening on the farm for a U.S. worker,” Ferguson said. “I have to advertise across the nation for U.S. workers. And sometimes we’ll get some people who will come, they want to come out, they want to go to work. But they don’t actually want to work.”

Email: scockerham@mcclatchydc.com; Twitter: @seancockerham

Source: McClatchyDC.com, “Seasonal farm-worker visa program frustrates growers” by Sean Cockerham, 7 May 2012.

Picket demonstration in front of Reynolds Headquarters (Fight Back! News/Staff)

Winston-Salem, NC – On a hot morning, May 3, over 200 people gathered in front of the R.J. Reynolds (R.J.R) Headquarters in opposition to the very severe working conditions forced on North Carolina tobacco farmworkers. In response, the police surrounded the front of the headquarters, along with every street corner near it.

R.J.R. has a long history of abusing North Carolina tobacco farmworkers through terrible working conditions, such as sub-minimum wages, pesticide and nicotine poisoning, uninhabitable housing and a lack of water and breaks, all of which result in numerous fatalities.

R.J.R. is also a corporate sponsor of the ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), which is known for its right-wing anti-immigration policies, such as Arizona’s S.B. 1070, along with advocating imprisoning undocumented workers, which private prison corporations profit off of. All of this is documented in a recent report by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), A state of fear: Human rights abuses in North Carolina’s tobacco industry.

At 9:00 a.m. a group of various organizations, including the FLOC, Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers (MSFW), the Youth and Young Adult (YAYA) Network of the National Farm Worker Ministry, Occupy Winston-Salem, along with religious leaders, gathered inside the R.J. Reynolds Headquarters to attend their shareholders meeting. Inside, as the CEOs discussed all the massive profits they’ve accumulated in the course of a year, FLOC continuously disrupted their meeting by standing up, calling for a “Point of information,” and asked serious questions which R.J.R. refused to tackle, in order to pressure them into actually meeting with FLOC to discuss and come to an actual agreement with tobacco farmworkers.

When asked on how well the action at the shareholders meeting went, Justin Flores, who is an organizer and Director of Programs for the FLOC, stated “Reynolds finally agreed to meet directly with FLOC, so we saw yet another step in the right direction. This is a direct result from all the campaigning that our supporters have helped us with around the country to shed light on the labor rights abuses happening in North Carolina. However, as the president [Baldemar Velasquez] has said, we don’t talk just to talk, so this campaign will continue until Reynolds comes to an agreement with FLOC on how to end labor rights abuses in their supply chain.”

Dida El-Sourady, a farmworker health outreach coordinator for the MSFW, commented similarly, stating “The shareholders meeting went really well. We got to ask a lot of good questions, which made them really uncomfortable. We had a very good presence there, with a lot of organizers talking about justice for farmworkers.”

As soon as the meeting was over, the various groups that attended made their way outside the R.J.R. headquarters and joined with the rest of over 200 people, ranging from farmworkers, Occupy, the religious community and even dedicated activists from both Ohio and Florida, and held a picket demonstration to continue the pressure on Reynolds. Chants like, “Reynolds Tobacco, you get rich. We get sick!” and “Qué queremos? Justicia! Cuándo lo queremos? Ahora! (What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!),” could be heard all along the street surrounding the front of R.J.R. headquarters.

By 11:00 a.m. everyone left the picket and marched to the Civic Plaza, where several different speakers of the FLOC spoke to the crowd, denouncing Reynolds’ abuse to tobacco farmworkers and undocumented immigrants. One speaker, James Andrews, who is President of the North Carolina AFL-CIO, commented, “I have a simple message to all of you today: don’t give up, don’t blink, don’t bat an eye, look at them eye-to-eye, not as trembling slaves, but as equals.” Another speaker, Baldemar Velasquez who is the founder and president of the FLOC, spoke passionately, “There has to be a way in which people can make all the money they want to make, but they cannot do it at the expense of people dying in the fields!”

As soon as all the speakers finished, everyone gathered again onto the streets and marched throughout Winston-Salem, chanting, “When I say people, you say power. People – Power! People – Power! When I say worker, you say power. Worker – Power! Worker – Power! When I say immigrant, you say power. Immigrant – Power! Immigrant – Power!” The march ended at Lloyd Presbyterian Church, where food and refreshments awaited and people got to rest and converse among comrades.

There was a microphone for anyone who wished to say a few words regarding the demonstration or any other topic that was dear to their hearts. A member of Occupy Winston-Salem spoke on the FBI raids of the 23 anti-war and international solidarity activists’ homes in September of 2010, along with the May 2011 raid of Chicano leader Carlos Montes’ home, mentioning the upcoming trial on May 15 in Los Angeles, California.

When asked his thoughts of the Reynolds-Farmworker situation as a whole and the demonstration held in response, Tony Ndege of Occupy Winston-Salem said “The heavily indoctrinated belief that labor is somehow bestowed upon us by our corporate overlords – that we should not only be grateful for having employment, but to fear and venerate those who exploit us at all costs – is what drives the enslavement of the overwhelming majority of humanity. The richest 1% of America now owns three times the wealth of the poorest 80% and that is an undeniably unsustainable fact. In a country with such unbelievable wealth, the fact that any human being is forced to work and live under such abusive and deplorable conditions, to save pennies on the dollar, is an abomination.”

Ndege continued, “In addition to benefiting from abusive farm labor, Reynolds American has begun another wave of firing full-time employees and hiring temps for a fraction of the labor costs. This shows that Reynolds American has no true allegiance to any of its workers. The brown-white labor divide created a false sense of security which has been smashed by the economic downturn. This is why it was so great to see so many groups – labor, church, occupy and El Cambio – present today. When it comes down to it, whether we are documented or not, we are all treated as cogs in the giant corporate wheel. And the only way we can stop this wheel from crushing us is to collectively throw a wrench in it.”

Source and photo gallery: FightBackNews.org, “Winston-Salem picket and march in support of NC tobacco farmworkers” by B.J. Murphy, 6 May 2012.

AUBURN, Maine (AP) – A former employee at the former DeCoster Egg Farms in Turner, Maine, has filed a lawsuit claiming he wasn’t paid overtime wages while he worked there.

In his complaint in Androscoggin County Superior Court, Leo Sierra Flores of Lewiston claims he regularly worked more than 40 hours per week at the farm, but wasn’t paid the mandated time-and-a-half rate for his overtime hours during the 2½ years he worked there.

His lawyer, Donald Fontaine, tells the Sun Journal that Flores is seeking $100,000 in back wages, damages and attorney’s fees.

The former owners of the farm could not be reached for comment.

The farm is now operated by a division of Land O’ Lakes, which last year agreed to take over operations of three farms formerly run by DeCoster.

Source: WLBZ2.com, “Former Maine egg farm worker files lawsuit” by Ken Christian, 27 Apr 2012.

It’s a sad irony that for years growing a healthy strawberry conventionally has required methyl bromide, a chemical so harmful it has been banned by international treaty because it is destroying the Earth’s ozone layer.

Another dose of irony: The soil fumigant at first favored to replace methyl bromide, methyl iodide, is perhaps even more despised, with studies linking it to cancer, birth defects and other maladies, and now it has been yanked from the U.S. market.

So where does that leave strawberry growers? In a very strange place, to be sure. Conventional farmers right now do not have an effective alternative to methyl bromide — some soil-cleansing process or additive that gives farmers the crop protection they need while also ensuring the health of rural communities and farmworkers.

The one bright spot we see now that the alternative has been shelved is that state regulators are moving quickly to speed up research into alternatives.

Brian Leahy, director of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, announced Tuesday the creation of a panel of scientists that has until late fall to come up with a five-year action plan. It’s a positive sign the panel will include representatives from California’s $2.3 billion strawberry industry and farmworker advocates, as all parties are going to have to solve this issue together.

The methyl bromide tale is long and complicated.

The chemical is widely used in strawberry production to kill pests and diseases in soil before planting, and, according to state data, Santa Cruz County tops the state in its use. It is highly effective but toxic. In 2005 it was nationally phased out by the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty for eliminating ozone-depleting chemicals.

While berry growers cover the fields with plastic to contain the chemicals, 50-95 percent of the substance eventually dissipates into the atmosphere and depletes the ozone, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The highly regulated chemical is also a potential occupational carcinogen, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Research and government agencies have poured millions of dollars into finding alternatives, but nothing works quite as well for mass-produced strawberries, according to many farmers. Thus, year after year, California berry growers receive exemptions to the protocol and continue using methyl bromide.

Why use it at all? Strawberries grown with alternative fumigants yield up to 35 percent less and none of them control weeds, according to farm groups.

The Watsonville-based California Strawberry Commission has been working to solve the problem for years, funneling millions of dollars into research, and has come up with some promising directions, as well as some dead-ends. Researchers have looked at solarization, steaming the soil, even using soil microbes to help strengthen plants.

It’s positive everyone is coming to the table to find a solution, but it’s frustrating that seven years after methyl bromide’s ban we’re still without a solution. It would appear we’re back to square one.

Source: SantaCruzSentinel.com, “As We See It: Search for alternative to methyl bromide continues unabated” Santa Cruz Sentinel editorial, 27 April 2012.

News Release

WHD News Release: [04/26/2012]
Contact Name: Joshua R. Lamont or Elizabeth Alexander
Phone Number: (202) 693-4661 or x4675
Release Number: 12-0826-NAT

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today issued the following statement regarding the withdrawal of a proposed rule dealing with children who work in agricultural vocations:

“The Obama administration is firmly committed to promoting family farmers and respecting the rural way of life, especially the role that parents and other family members play in passing those traditions down through the generations. The Obama administration is also deeply committed to listening and responding to what Americans across the country have to say about proposed rules and regulations.

“As a result, the Department of Labor is announcing today the withdrawal of the proposed rule dealing with children under the age of 16 who work in agricultural vocations.

“The decision to withdraw this rule — including provisions to define the ‘parental exemption’ — was made in response to thousands of comments expressing concerns about the effect of the proposed rules on small family-owned farms. To be clear, this regulation will not be pursued for the duration of the Obama administration.

“Instead, the Departments of Labor and Agriculture will work with rural stakeholders — such as the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Farmers Union, the Future Farmers of America, and 4-H — to develop an educational program to reduce accidents to young workers and promote safer agricultural working practices.”

Source: DOL.gov, “Labor Department statement on withdrawal of proposed rule dealing with children who work in agricultural vocations” 26 Apr 2012.

RIVERSIDE — A commercial farming operation and four of its contractors face accusations of cheating Coachella Valley-area migrant workers of pay and failing to provide them with basic living amenities.

Calandri SonRise Farms, headquartered in Lancaster, is being sued in federal court for alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the California Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.

Former field hands Adalberto Gomez and Ignacio Villalobos are named as plaintiffs in the civil action filed last week in U.S. District Court in Riverside. They’re being represented by Coachella-based California Rural Legal Assistance and the Oxnard-based law firm Nava & Gomez.

The suit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages and a change in Calandri’s operations, claims the onion grower and its contractors — Maria Castillo, Teresa Castillo, Juan Munoz and Mary Ocampo — repeatedly committed labor abuses, including underpaying workers and allowing them to live in unhealthy conditions.

Calandri Director of Operations Brandon Calandri told City News Service the family-owned concern had only received word about the lawsuit on Monday and was “still trying to figure out what the heck is going on.”

The company’s attorney released a statement saying “SonRise has always maintained a safe working environment at its farms and has complied with state and federal wage and hour laws.”

The suit claims Calandri — which operates throughout Southern California — and its contractors manipulated records and pay stubs to short field hands on their compensation. Workers were also allegedly denied reimbursements for tools used in planting and harvesting.

“Workers were made to live in squalid, makeshift camps on the edges of the onion fields, (and) workers … resorted to bathing in irrigation reservoirs and other unsafe places because their employer-provided housing lacked running water or adequate toilet facilities,” according to a statement released by California Rural Legal Assistance.

The firm is seeking to have the suit certified as a class action.

Megan Beaman, with California Rural Legal Assistance, said Gomez and Villalobos represent “thousands” of unnamed farmworkers “who face the same abuses on the job every day.”

“Growers who play by the rules shouldn’t have to compete with employers … who try to help their bottom line by breaking the law,” Beaman said.

Source: MyDesert.com, “Farming operation accused of cheating workers” by Desert Sun Wire Services, 2 Apr 2012.

Nearly half a million children farm workers harvest almost 25 percent of our crops.

It may sound like something out of the Industrial Revolution, but child labor still exists throughout the U.S. today, in surprising numbers. Most of these children are in undocumented families working in agriculture — migrating from farm to farm, following the harvest, in order to find work when it’s needed. This has become a widespread issue: Nearly half a million children, as young as 6, are involved in the U.S. agriculture industry and responsible for a quarter of crops harvested.

Agricultural work in the U.S. remains relatively untouched by labor laws. In 1938, legislation extended protections to working children — but excluded agriculture intentionally. More than 70 years later, agriculture still relies on dated labor practices and exploitation — significantly fewer unions, lower or illegal wages without benefits and unchecked working conditions. If workers want to fight for wages or benefits to which they’re legally entitled, firing or threat of deportation are used to silence workers who speak out or attempt to organize. Thus, the use of undocumented labor is remarkably profitable for the industry. In California, migrant workers’ gross economic contribution was $45,000 per person, including children, in 1994. Yet the workers were paid an average of only $8,840 each.

This has created several problems for these families. Despite their connection to fresh produce, migrant families face some of the highest insecurity when it comes to finding food. Research conducted by the California Institute for Rural Studies found that 45 percent of farm workers surveyed had trouble securing food, and 48 percent were on food stamps — more than double the national average. Their dependence on cheap, processed food results in higher rates of obesity and diet-related illnesses. Another survey done by the CIRS in 1999 of farm workers throughout California found that 81 percent of males and 76 percent of females were overweight, respectively.

However, this exploitation won’t go away by simply toughening labor or immigration laws, nor are all of its outcomes necessarily bad. As consumers on a budget, we’ve grown to rely on cheaper food. Additionally, migrant workers currently need such jobs to support themselves, even if it means being exploited.

On the consumer side, there are people here in the Twin Cities with many of the same problems as migrant farm workers. According to the USDA, places where people are not able to adequately acquire healthy food, deemed “food deserts,” exist just blocks away from campus in north Minneapolis. Obesity rates in this population are among the highest in Minnesota. Changing our food system to try to bring supermarkets to Minneapolis won’t help migrant workers, and helping migrant workers could jeopardize Minneapolitans’ access to cheap food. Increasing the power of corporations will further entrench our reliance on exploitation for food, while increasing farm workers’ wages will cause supermarkets to raise prices, hurting low-income consumers.

The answer to the problem lies in a broken, corrupt partnership between government and corporations, which presents the issue to us as if it were a sad but necessary trade-off between having affordable groceries and giving basic standards of living to farm workers. In looking for real solutions, we must question this logic of profit maximization. Solutions lie in urban agriculture, farm workers unions, holding corporations accountable for their workers and public-policy advocacy. This way we can begin to chip away at the food industry’s storyline that poses the interests of urban poor against the interests of farm workers and build healthier alternatives in its place.

Source: MNDaily.com, “Child labor in American agriculture” by Eric Best, 3 Apr 2012.

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–January 26, 2012.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Monday that it is providing a $25,000 grant to the Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas (CATA) to reduce exposure to pesticides for farm workers in southern New Jersey. CATA, a Latino-led nonprofit organization, will educate migrant farm workers throughout the counties of Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem, New Jersey about the risks of pesticide exposure and how to protect their health during field work.

Farm work is demanding and dangerous physical labor. A 2008 study by a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) researcher finds that the incidence rate of pesticide poisoning is extremely high among U.S. agricultural workers. An average of 57.6 out of every 100,000 agricultural workers experience acute pesticide poisoning, illness or injury each year, the same order of magnitude as the annual incidence rate of breast cancer in the United States. As a result of cumulative long-term exposures, they and their children are at risk of developing serious chronic health problems such as cancer, neurological impairments and Parkinson’s disease.

Southern New Jersey has a large population of migrant farm workers. For the past 20 years, CATA has managed an environmental program that provides information on pesticide protection, the reduction of harmful chemicals in the workplace and general health and safety training. The EPA funding to CATA will help farm workers implement worker protection standards and identify training needs. Under the project funded by the grant, the group will survey workers and train them using the We Work with Pesticides curriculum developed by the Farm Worker Health and Safety Institute and approved by the EPA.

“EPA environmental justice grants provide much needed funds to tackle local pollution problems in low income communities,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “Exposure to pesticides can have serious effects on people’s health. The grant to Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas will train migrant farm workers in southern New Jersey about steps they can take to better protect their health on the job.”

According to EPA, environmental justice means the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of race or income, in the environmental decision-making process. Since 1994, the environmental justice small grants program has provided more than $23 million in funding to community-based nonprofit organizations and local governments working to address environmental justice issues in more than 1,200 communities. The grants further EPA’s commitment to expand the conversation on environmentalism and advance environmental justice in communities across the nation.

Though the grant program is an important and necessary tool to help solve the problem with environmental justice issues, much work still needs to be done on EPA’s behalf to effectively protect workers. A 2006 report released by the Inspector General (IG), EPA Needs to Conduct Environmental Reviews of Its Programs, Policies and Activities, found that senior management at EPA has not directed program and regional offices to conduct environmental justice reviews as required by the Environmental Justice Executive Order 12898. The report said, “Until these program and regional offices perform environmental justice reviews, the Agency cannot determine whether its programs cause disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on minority and low-income populations.” In late 2011, several farmworker groups filed a petition with EPA to implement stronger protections for farmworkers, with particular regard to health effects of exposure to toxic pesticides on the job.More information on EPA’s Environmental Justice Small Grants program and a list of grantees, see:http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/grants/ej-smgrants.html.

Our food choices have a direct effect on those who grow and harvest what we eat around the world. This is why it’s important to eat organic. USDA organic certification is the only system of food labeling that is subject to independent public review and oversight, assuring consumers that toxic, synthetic pesticides used in conventional agriculture are replaced by management practices focused on soil biology, biodiversity, and plant health. This eliminates commonly used toxic chemicals in the production and processing of conventional food, which harms farmworkers and farm families.

For more information on the importance of eating organic food for you, workers and the environment, check out Beyond Pesticides’ Eating with a Conscience food guide and organic food program page.

Sources: EPA Press Release, beyondpesticides.org

Source: ENewsPF.com, “EPA Awards Grant To Help Farm Workers Reduce Pesticide Risks” 26 Jan 2012.

The Colorado cantaloupe grower-shipper linked to the deadly 2011 listeria outbreak has been fined for housing migrant workers in substandard conditions.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division fined Granada, Colo.-based Jensen Farms $4,250 for failing to meet safety and health requirements under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, according to an agency news release.

Investigators from the agency’s Denver office found overcrowded rooms without beds, windows that didn’t open, inadequate laundry facilities, unsanitary conditions and a lack of smoke detectors, all in violation of the act.

In 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determined that unsanitary conditions at Jensen Farms’ packing facility were likely contributors to the listeria outbreak, which killed 30 and sickened 146 people in 28 states.

Jensen Farms co-owner Eric Jensen could not be reached for comment Jan. 20.

Source: ThePacker.com, “Jensen Farms fined for substandard housing” by Andy Nelson, 20 Jan 2012.

FRESNO, Calif.—Environmental groups say state regulators ignored science and broke public health laws when they approved a controversial pesticide for strawberry fields.

Lawyers for a coalition of pesticide reform and farmworker groups argued Thursday that officials favored the input of the chemical’s manufacturer, Arysta LifeScience, over scientists’ recommendations.

The groups are asking an Alameda County Superior Court judge to vacate approval for the use of methyl iodide, which kills bugs, weeds and plant diseases and is used by some growers of tomatoes, peppers and other crops. The state Department of Pesticide Regulation approved its use before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s term ended.

Environmentalists say regulators violated state law by mischaracterizing methyl iodide’s approval as an emergency action in order to gain approval before a new administration takes office.

The state said it conducted large amounts of research before approving the chemical in 2010, despite opposition from its own scientific advisors and an independent scientist panel who said it can cause cancer.

Judge Frank Roesch expressed skepticism about the research process, saying it appeared that regulators didn’t properly explore alternatives.

“Did you consider not approving methyl iodide? I don’t see it,” Roesch asked. “Absent that, I don’t see how you can prevail in the lawsuit.”

The judge gave the state until Jan. 20 to show it was not required to consider alternatives under the California Environmental Quality Act.

Methyl iodide was approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2007 as a replacement for the fumigant methyl bromide, which is being phased out by international treaty because it depletes the ozone layer. Environmental groups have asked the EPA to reconsider the approval of methyl iodide.

Methyl iodide is registered in 47 other states.

California’s $1.6 billion strawberry industry would provide one of the biggest markets for the chemical. The fumigant has been applied five times in the state since it was approved, including twice in Fresno County.

Source: MercuryNews.com, “CA accused of improper OK to strawberry pesticide” Associated Press, 13 Jan 2012.