Anti-pesticide group threatens to sue Oceanside tomato grower – San Diego Union-Tribune

A national advocacy group has sent formal notice of its intent to sue a longtime Oceanside farming family, the city and county for alleged violations of pesticide regulations and the federal Clean Water Act.

West Coast Tomato Growers, owned by the Singh family, “regularly applied pesticides against manufacturer recommendations, just prior to forecasted rainfall and when spray drift was likely,” according to Non-Toxic Neighborhoods, a California nonprofit with members across the U.S.

“Ignoring both state and federal law puts people and the environment at risk,” the group said in a recent news release, adding that “illegal pesticide use is particularly concerning because some of its operations occur on public lands leased by Oceanside and the county (of San Diego).”

Company representatives declined to provide details of the notification and issued a statement in response.

“First and foremost, we at West Coast Tomato Growers take our compliance obligations very seriously,” said an emailed statement from Orven Zaragoza, the company’s director of food safety and regulatory compliance.

“We are a four-generation, local, family-owned business in San Diego County—we pride ourselves on our top-quality products and are responsible stewards of the land,” he says. “While we do not have any pending regulatory permit violations, we will pursue any that are warranted.”

Others have raised the issue of pesticides in the past. Members of Clean Earth 4 Kids of Oceanside asked city officials to stop leasing properties on West Coast because of pesticide use there.

Non-Toxic Neighborhoods circulated a petition in 2019 that garnered 526 signatures asking the Oceanside City Council to ban pesticides in the borough. In March 2020, the City Council voted against the proposal, saying it would require hand-weeding of parks and increase maintenance costs by $250,000 per year.

Non-Toxic Neighborhoods founder Kim Konte said the group documented more than 200 cases over an 18-month period where West Coast applied unsafe pesticides to tomato fields without required notifications or permits.

“Enforcement of pesticide regulations is critical to protecting public health and the environment,” Konte said.

“WCTG routinely misapplies pesticides, some of which contain persistent chemicals like PFAS, near schools and housing developments,” Susie Rupp, director of Non-Toxic Neighborhoods of California, said in a news release.

“These toxic chemicals could end up in the San Luis Rey River, which winds through northern Oceanside and flows into the ocean,” Rupp said. “It’s shocking that a local farm operating on public lands has such disregard for public health and the environment.”

Tomatoes are the third most popular vegetable consumed in the United States, behind potatoes and onions, according to the International Fresh Produce Association. However, the crop is susceptible to disease, and commercial production usually involves the use of chemical pesticides.

West Coast Tomato Growers grows the bright red produce on hundreds of acres, most of it along North River Road in Morro Hills in northeast Oceanside. The company is one of the few in the country that supports the plants with wooden stakes or posts, which improves the size and quality of the produce.

Harry Singh, Sr., founded the company in 1939, and it is now the third-largest producer of vine-ripened tomatoes in the U.S. Harvest begins in late June or early July and peaks in September and October, when workers can pack as many as 50,000 24-pound cases a day.

For years, the Singhs leased about 600 acres at Camp Pendleton. Until about 2010, green rows of grapevines with stakes could be seen along Interstate 5 just north of Oceanside.

Priya Singh, the company’s chief executive, spoke at a 2019 U.S. International Trade Commission hearing to say his company had been forced to cut production because of a glut of cheap tomatoes from Mexico. Much of California’s agricultural industry faces the same dilemma.

West Coast still farms about nine acres owned by the City of Oceanside and just over 77 acres owned by San Diego County. For this reason, the Non-Toxic Neighborhoods legal notice covers the city and county.

The nonprofit organization is represented by Coast Law Group in Encinitas.