Read the full article by Lori Valigra (Bangor Daily News)
“Keith Hunter was looking forward to buying his mother’s 100-acre hay farm in Unity, so she could retire comfortably and he could run it with his sons and daughter. But bad news squelched his plans in early 2022.
A customer reported that the hay purchased from Hunter Farm had tested positive for forever chemicals. Hunter and his mother, Sue Hunter, immediately collected dozens of soil and water samples that showed the farm was highly contaminated by the chemicals, including in the groundwater used for irrigation and the drinking water.
Known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, forever chemicals do not easily break down. They make plants uneatable and milk undrinkable, and they are linked to some cancers in humans. Hunter Farm could no longer sell its hay, and Keith Hunter’s dairy herd on his own farm nearby was contaminated from eating the Hunter Farm grass. But he and his mother weren’t ready to give up.”…