Taiwan Sugar Corporation drone sprays 2,4-D herbicide, neighboring pineapple fields damaged as hormones go haywire; expert: aerial spraying concentrations are high and require strict control

The drone pesticide spraying policy is expected to launch next year, but this year it has already caused pesticide damage in pineapple fields first! Taiwan Sugar Corporation hired drones to spray the herbicide "2,4-D" in sugarcane fields, and suspected wind drift contamination caused pineapples just across the way to "topple every which way," with leaves curling or simply withering. Because 2,4-D can interfere with plant hormones, pineapple farmers complain that besides the directly damaged pineapples, other affected pineapples are flowering abnormally, and next year they may have no fruit to harvest.

According to the field survey results of experts from the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute and the Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute, the abnormal growth symptoms in the affected pineapple fields are very obvious. Although 2,4-D metabolizes quickly and may no longer be detectable after about 1 month, the pesticide damage can still be clearly seen. Although Taiwan Sugar Corporation admits there were operational errors, the two sides cannot agree on the compensation amount and are still negotiating.

Tseng Te-tsu, emeritus professor of the Department of Plant Pathology at National Chung Hsing University, reminds that 2,4-D has a notable tendency to volatilize and drift, and disputes over contamination of surrounding crops are frequently reported. In addition, the concentration of chemicals sprayed by drones is relatively high, so using them rashly carries extremely high risk. Feng Hai-tung, Director-General of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, said that next year will be the first year for drone pesticide application regulations to take off, and the bureau is currently taking stock of pesticide items suitable for aerial application. A complete announcement will be made before the regulations officially take effect in March next year.

6.6 hectares of pineapple fields suspected of pesticide damage contamination; flower forcing fails, stems and leaves curl and lean to one side

"Look, there is 'curled-heart' growth here, not normal straight upward growth, all leaning to one side. One look and you can tell there is a problem!" Chen Wen-chu, a pineapple farmer from Minxiong, Chiayi, and 16 others collectively complained that when Taiwan Sugar Corporation hired drones in late August to spray the herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (abbreviated as 2,4-D) in the sugarcane fields of Dahu Farm, suspected drift contamination caused abnormal pineapple growth, with plant stems and leaves curling and flower forcing failing. A total of 6.6 hectares of pineapple fields were damaged, affecting the livelihoods of more than ten farmers.

Chen Wen-chu pointed out that pineapples are mostly forced to flower in late September, and he also tried forcing a batch, but the success rate was less than 1 percent. "If we keep forcing flowers, it will just be wasted effort, and we are also afraid of destroying the 'scene of the incident.' Everyone can only leave them there and wait, with nothing to do all day." With flower forcing failing now, farmers will have no fruit to harvest in June or July next year, and nearly two years of hard work may be wasted.

Did you know: 2,4-D is a synthetic auxin (hormone). At high concentrations it can be used as an herbicide. Its principle is to disturb the hormone balance within plants, promoting or inhibiting the growth of specific organs, causing weed stems and leaves to twist and stem bases to thicken, resulting in plant death. When applied at low doses, it can be used as a growth promoter to encourage branch growth, make fruit ripen early, and prevent flower and fruit drop.

Taiwan Sugar Corporation: Scientific evidence must be provided

The affected farmers have gone through three rounds of negotiations with Taiwan Sugar Corporation over the past two months, but still have no consensus on the compensation amount. Taiwan Sugar Corporation said that on October 4 it collected pineapple samples and sent them to SGS (Taiwan Inspection Technology Company) for testing, but no 2,4-D residue was detected. It still proposed paying 150,000 yuan per hectare in compensation, but the farmers did not accept it and demanded at least 1.6 million yuan per hectare in compensation. "Only the areas closest to the sugarcane field should be more serious. The ones behind may only be 10 percent or 20 percent affected. How could it be that none of them can be harvested?" said Chen Han-kun, section chief of the Sugar Business Division of Taiwan Sugar Corporation.

In response, Chen Wen-chu, whose "damaged area" was the largest, explained that the "1.6 million yuan amount" was based on this year's (Year 108 of the Republic of China) average pineapple auction unit price from March to September of "40 yuan per fruit" multiplied by the 40,000 pineapples that can be planted per hectare. "Many of us take home delivery orders. A good one can sell for more than 80 yuan. Today we are only asking for an average amount as some compensation." He stressed that the farmers were not making outrageous demands.

In early December, the Chiayi County Government commissioned the Tainan Agricultural Improvement Station to conduct an on-site survey, and preliminarily ruled out pests and diseases as the cause of the pineapple damage. However, Taiwan Sugar Corporation insists that everything must follow procedures and cannot rely only on speculation. Everything should be based on scientific evidence. As long as it can be shown that the pesticide damage was caused by Taiwan Sugar Corporation, the company will absolutely take responsibility to the end.

Expert from the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute: Pineapple growth abnormalities are obvious; rosette symptoms also appear in cold weather

To clarify the relevant responsibilities, yesterday (the 19th), the Chiayi County Government, the Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute of the Council of Agriculture, the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, Taiwan Sugar Corporation, and the affected farmers all "returned to the scene" to further confirm the damaging factors.

Pineapple expert Kuan Ching-shan, associate researcher in the Horticulture Department of the Chiayi Branch of the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, pointed out after the field survey that the abnormal growth symptoms in the pineapples are very obvious. Pineapple is a tropical fruit, and with low temperatures in autumn and winter, this should not be a season of vigorous pineapple growth. In the fields, the central leaves of pineapple plants are growing too densely and the leaves have become shorter. This is the so-called "rosette" phenomenon. "It means the growing point is abnormal. 2,4-D promotes rapid plant growth. Theoretically, at this time it should stop; only when growth stops can flower bud differentiation occur. But now it just keeps desperately growing leaves, so flower forcing also fails. Even if flower forcing succeeds, it will only produce small fruit."

Chiang Yung-cheng, researcher and section chief of the Public Nuisance Prevention Section of the Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute, who is responsible for carrying out public nuisance analysis, also said that 2,4-D metabolizes quickly and may no longer be detectable after about 1 month, but the appearance of the pineapples has clearly changed, indicating that some kind of pesticide damage effect has already occurred. In this situation, it may not be appropriate to judge only by the standard of "whether residue remains." "Of course, detecting it is best and the evidence is most direct, but not detecting it now does not mean the pesticide damage does not exist or never had an effect."