The Farmer's Daughter USA

Hi, I'm Amanda! My family farms corn and soybeans in Southwest Michigan. I'm also a practicing attorney.

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USDA: No Reason to Worry About Pesticide Residues in 2020

February 10, 2022

I fear I’m starting to sound like a broken record. But in this case, that’s a really good thing!

This year marks the 30th anniversary of USDAโ€™s Agricultural Marketing Service’s Pesticide Data Program (PDP). Throughout the year, the USDA randomly samples various commodities to monitor and measure pesticide residues. It then reports those results to the EPA, who makes ensures that any residue is within safe limits (in other words, it can’t hurt us). It’s important information that allows the EPA to assess dietary risks, especially for children, and take immediate action if something concerning is found.

At the end of the year, the USDA releases its annual summary of PDP results. It recently released the report for 2020. The USDA tested 9,600 samples of 18 fresh and processed fruits and vegetables that year. It found that 99 percent of samples were well within the safety tolerances set by the EPA. In other words, our food supply is safe from harmful levels of pesticide residues.

Why is this such a concern? Farmers use pesticides to protect growing crops from a wide array of pests, like insects, fungus, and disease. Pesticides are an important tool for agriculture. But some people worry that those chemicals may linger on our food, and could potentially hurt us when we consume that food.

In response, the EPA studies this potential issue before making pesticides commercially available. So it knows how much a human, including small humans, would need to digest to be affected. It then sets strict tolerances well below that amount. Each year, USDA’s PDP report demonstrates that our food supply is safe from pesticide residue and well within those tolerances. So there’s no reason to be concerned.

By the way, if you’re still concerned about pesticide residues, the FDA recommends that we all wash any fresh fruit or produce under running water for 20 seconds. The concern isn’t so much about pesticide residue. Rather food can become contaminated during packaging, shipping, and selling. So it’s always a best practice to wash your food no matter where you purchased it.

In the coming weeks you’ll hear from organizations trying to persuade you that our food supply is covered in pesticide residue. But that’s nothing more than propaganda meant to scare you. The USDA, FDA, and EPA all work to monitor pesticide use and make sure our food is safe. Farmers also take this responsibility seriously and only use pesticides when necessary, and only apply them in accordance with regulations.

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Filed Under: Conventional Tagged With: science

Hi, I'm Amanda. My family farms corn and soybeans in Southwest Michigan. I'm an attorney and I'm passionate about agriculture!

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Amanda | The Farmer's Daughter USA
I'm a proud farmer's daughter & advocate for modern agriculture. U.S. farmers are leaders in sustainability.

Amanda Zaluckyj
Just a reminder. #agriculture #usagriculture #far Just a reminder.

#agriculture #usagriculture #farmers #usfarmers #farming #farmfamilies #sustainableag #sustainableagriculture #sustainable #sustainability #farmerscare #homegrown #localagriculture #knowyourfarmer #shoplocal #madeintheusa #madeintheus #americanagriculture
Happy Thanksgiving! I realized this morning that Happy Thanksgiving!

I realized this morning that it's been 20 years since I performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. What a trip!

I hope you and yours have a lovely day! ๐Ÿฆƒ
Honestly, what is she even doing?? #Mischa #dogsl Honestly, what is she even doing??

#Mischa
#dogslife
She's got me. #dogslife #onlyfurbaby #naptime She's got me. 

#dogslife #onlyfurbaby #naptime
Some of you see this picture and appreciate the vi Some of you see this picture and appreciate the view. Our grain cart driver (mom) just sees that scary hill to drive up. ๐Ÿซฃ

 #farming #sustainableag #agriculture #sustainableagriculture #farmers #sustainableagriculturepractices #sustainable #agriculturelife #agricultureeducation #farm #farmer #harvest23๐ŸŒพ
Happy Halloween! I dressed up as an attorney today Happy Halloween! I dressed up as an attorney today. ๐Ÿคฃ

Oh, lawyer jokes. Listen, if you can't make fun or yourself and have a little fun, what are you even doing?
It's true. My puppy. ๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ’œ It's true. My puppy. ๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ’œ
The first 25 acres of soybeans are done! But the b The first 25 acres of soybeans are done! But the beans still have very high moisture content. It's so high the granary won't accept them. So we'll have to dry them.

The big concern with soybeans is that the pods won't pop open. If that happens, they'll be discarded  out the back of the combine with the other plant material. Obviously not what we want to happen. After testing a bit, enough were opening that we felt like we should just get started.

Slow going, but at least it's going!

 #farming #sustainableag #agriculture #sustainableagriculture #farmers #sustainableagriculturepractices #sustainable #agriculturelife #agricultureeducation #farm #farmer #fearfree #cleanfood #foodsafety #dietfads #FactsNotFear #cleaneatingdiet #foodlabels #truth #cleaneating #Harvest2023
We're still not harvesting yet. Why not? Moisture We're still not harvesting yet. Why not? Moisture content.

We're currently about 4 weeks behind. But we can't start because our crops are still too wet. The moisture content is the amount of water in each kernel or soybean. If there's too much, they can spoil in storage. If it's really too high, then combine has a hard time handling it.

For corn, the sweet spot is about 15%. We have a dryer system on the farm that can help finish the kernels to the correct moisture level. But the dryer takes a lot of energy to run, so its cost prohibitive if the moisture content is too high. And if we try to sell the crop when it's too wet, we'll take a price hit at the grain elevator. So either the granary dries it, we dry it, or Mother Nature dries it. Right now, it's still too wet for after-harvest drying.

The other complication is that IT. JUST. KEEPS. RAINING. That doesn't help because the corn doesn't have a chance to dry out, and it maintains that moisture. We need some warm, dry days to speed up the process.

So, for now, we're still waiting...

#harvest23
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