'It's environmental racism': Ag officials sued over farm chemicals near Latino schools

Norm Groot, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, dismissed the lawsuit as the work of activist organizations that do not understand that, "without agricultural chemicals in situations where we are growing crops very sensitive to pests and diseases, we won't have food."

Groot said the fumigants in this case are injected into the soil, which is then placed under a plastic tarp that remains over the field for seven to 10 days until the chemicals have dissipated. There is "no transmission into the atmosphere of any of these chemicals," Groot said.

Six farms, each of which obtained permits to fumigate, also are named in the lawsuit.

A manager for one of them, Bay View Farms LLC, said the fumigation process is "really heavily regulated and inspected by not just the county, but also the state."

Bay View Farms, he said, grows strawberries on about 45 acres near Ohlone Elementary. It got a permit last August to use chloropicrin and 1,3-D. The manager, who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity to discuss pending litigation, said that every three years the Bay View crop is rotated with another company that grows vegetables.

"We do it when the students are not at school," he said of fumigating. "We don't want to do anything to kids."

Greg Loarie, an attorney for Earthjustice, said it has long been "nearly impossible" for members of the public to learn exactly when fumigants are going to be applied so they can take precautions, like avoiding being outside near the fields. The permits are valid for at least several months and are not easily accessible for inspection since they are not posted online and require a public records request to view.

"Parents and teachers certainly have a right to know when toxic pesticides are being sprayed right next to their schools, and this process needs to be public and needs to be meaningful," he said.

"What we really want, at the end of the day, is we want the poisoning to stop. We want someone to be addressing the fact that cumulative exposure to these pesticides, year after year, is poisoning our kids."