In lots of components of the nation, summer season is the right time to purchase strawberries proper from the farm. You could find native growers on the Actual Natural Undertaking or our Regenerative Farm Map.
However what concerning the strawberries you discover on the grocery retailer?
Driscoll’s is the world’s largest strawberry firm. Neighboring communities, clear meals activists, and a whistleblower from the within say that Driscoll’s berries are grown with out soil in an extreme quantity of plastic, carry pesticide residues at ranges banned in different international locations, and are contaminated with PFAS eternally chemical compounds and microplastics.
Omar Dieguez and Adam Scow of the Marketing campaign for Natural and Regenerative Agriculture stay in Watsonville, California, the place Driscoll’s is headquartered. OCA’s Alexis Baden-Mayer spoke with them for Regeneration Worldwide’s 2025 Folks’s Meals Summit. Omar had simply come off a month-long starvation strike to press Driscoll’s to cease spraying pesticides subsequent to colleges. Almost a yr later, Driscoll’s nonetheless hasn’t met Omar’s demand, however his marketing campaign is gaining steam with assist from a lawsuit filed by David Harada, a former worker who alleges the corporate hid violations of pesticide security legal guidelines, and testing by Mamavation that discovered PFAS pesticide residues on Driscoll’s berries.
Harada, Driscoll’s Supervisor of Meals Security and Regulatory Compliance, filed a whistleblower lawsuit offering proof that for years the corporate over-applied pesticides in violation of Federal and California legal guidelines after which anticipated him to cowl it up. The grievance reveals the Meals and Drug Administration despatched two separate notices to the corporate about folks getting sick from consuming Driscoll’s produce.
Testing by Mamavation discovered Driscoll’s non-organic strawberries contained residues of 12 completely different pesticides at ranges prohibited within the European Union, Taiwan, Chile, Korea, and Russia. Eight of these are fluorinated pesticides that qualify as PFAS “eternally chemical compounds.” They accumulate in our our bodies and are related to most cancers, reproductive issues, developmental delays, and immune suppression. These ranges fall inside US limits, which is on the coronary heart of the issue: the US nonetheless permits PFAS at ranges different international locations have deemed unsafe.
The excellent news is, we are able to all skip the plasticberries. Discover natural strawberries grown by actual farmers in nutrient wealthy soil with the Actual Natural Undertaking listing and our Regenerative Farm Map.
TAKE ACTION: Please assist Middle for Farm Staff Households alert to Driscoll’s!
