Farmers decide if they want a future or not every time they pencil out the profits for the coming crop year. Its a commodity business. Grain farmers have zero pricing power. They can increase their top line by increasing yield. They can reduce costs to increase margins.
It's not a simple problem to solve. Moralizing about someone else's business without understanding the fundamental economics isn't going to solve it. It's a public policy question in the end.
I have skin in the game. I own row crop land in Iowa and Minnesota that is operated by local farmers. My leases require good land stewardship and I only lease to farmer/operators that are willing to meet the conditions. For the majority of farmers, good stewardship of the land and environment is part of their ethos. There are obvious exceptions. We should do something about the exceptions, and that is where it becomes a public policy question.
IMHO, herbacide drift is fundamentally a form of trespass when it drifts out of your own field. Let's start with treating drift as trespass. Cattle breaking the fence is treated that way, the maintainer of the fence is liable for damages. Keep your chemicals behind your own property line.
It's not a simple problem to solve. Moralizing about someone else's business without understanding the fundamental economics isn't going to solve it. It's a public policy question in the end.
I have skin in the game. I own row crop land in Iowa and Minnesota that is operated by local farmers. My leases require good land stewardship and I only lease to farmer/operators that are willing to meet the conditions. For the majority of farmers, good stewardship of the land and environment is part of their ethos. There are obvious exceptions. We should do something about the exceptions, and that is where it becomes a public policy question.
IMHO, herbacide drift is fundamentally a form of trespass when it drifts out of your own field. Let's start with treating drift as trespass. Cattle breaking the fence is treated that way, the maintainer of the fence is liable for damages. Keep your chemicals behind your own property line.