North Side Farms drops organic appeal

North Side Farms in Sutter County has dropped its appeal of the organic certification it lost when a herbicide was found to have been applied to rice fields of the Live Oak farm.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture had been reviewing the challenge by North Side to the decision by Santa Cruz-based California Certified Organic Farmers.

Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the state agency, said Wednesday that North Side ended its appeal of the organic certification issue that arose after the Sutter County Agricultural Commissioner said it discovered the herbicide Regiment had been applied to North Side land.

Use of herbicide on any field requires a report to the county.

Mark Evans of North Side Farms could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

An agricultural biologist for Sutter County had been undertaking routine inspections nearby in June 2006 when he said he discovered an airboat, a fan-powered watercraft common in the Florida everglades. Such boats are often used to apply chemicals.

Vegetation samples were sent to the state — and one showed the presence of Regiment.

The Santa Cruz organic farming association later proposed to end organic certification for three fields of North Side Farms.

Viella Shipley, spokeswoman for the organic association, cited a separate lawsuit in federal court filed by North Side over the certification and said she could not discuss the matter.

"Our position is always to protect the integrity of organic," Shipley said of the association's goal.

Contact Appeal reporter Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmccarthy@appeal-democrat.com