Read the full article by Kevin Miller (Portland Press Herald)

“An Arundel dairy farmer who raised the alarm about “forever chemicals” in fertilizer has been denied assistance from a federal safety-net program for farmers unable to sell contaminated milk.

Fred Stone said he’s angry that he was rejected for assistance he said is needed for his farm’s survival – especially after being assured he qualified – and that the federal program is requiring him to bear the nearly $600-per-sample cost for milk testing.

But federal representatives said they are obliged to follow the rules set by Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a program that is rarely used in Maine but could become more commonplace nationwide as PFAS contamination hot spots are discovered…

Stone said he is facing a “financial nightmare” stemming from the November 2016 discovery of contamination in a municipal water well located on his family’s century-old York County farm. Subsequent tests showed Stoneridge Farm’s soils, drinking water and milk were contaminated with per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, likely hidden in the municipal sludge or paper mill waste he was encouraged to use as fertilizer on his fields.

The contamination at Stoneridge Farm spurred additional scrutiny of the potential for farmers to inadvertently contaminate their fields – and potentially their farm products – with PFAS in “biosolids” used as fertilizer. Stone, who believes he and his family’s health have been impacted by the contamination, has also filed suit against the wastewater treatment plant, a paper mill and PFAS manufacturers…

Stone had some initial success reducing PFAS levels in his milk after installing a high-tech water filtration system and purchasing feed grown on out-of-state fields that were never fertilized with sludge. But he finally lost his contract with Oakhurst Dairy last January when levels spiked again.

Forced to dump all of the milk from his herd of 50 to 100 cows daily, Stone applied for compensation through a 40-year-old federal program created to help dairy farmers recoup losses from contamination.

He received money from the Dairy Indemnity Payment Program for last January and February but received notification last month that he was denied assistance for March through October. Stone estimates the payments of $150 to $175 per day add up to around $45,000…

In his denial letter, Lavway pointed out that a March test showed PFOS levels below the state’s maximum limit of 210 parts per trillion, meaning the milk was eligible to be marketed commercially. Additionally, Lavway wrote, Stone failed to provide the additional monthly tests necessary to show that his milk could not legally be sold…

But Stone said he was never told, in his repeated conversations with local Farm Service Agency staff, that he needed to conduct additional tests to qualify. He also questioned how the USDA expects him to pay up to $600 per test at a time when his lack of milk income means he doesn’t have money to buy feed for his cows or pay other expenses.

Additionally, Stone suggested that it is unrealistic for state or federal agencies to expect him to be able to sell milk that is just shy of the state’s 210 parts per trillion cutoff…

While the federal government has not set a health standard for the chemicals in milk, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends treatment of any drinking water with a combined PFOS and PFOA level of 70 parts per trillion. Several other states have adopted or are poised to adopt even stricter standards for drinking water…”