RUSTON, La. — The peach orchards at Mitcham Farms, near the north Louisiana city of Ruston, have survived winter freezes, droughts and dangerous hail storms, but they evidently will not survive the Environmental Protection Agency and its regulations.
The family-owned business, established in 1946 and featured in tourism magazines, is Louisiana’s largest peach orchard, according to its website, but owner Joe Mitcham expects he’ll close up shop in only a few years.
The federal government’s banning of a chemical in 2005 known as methyl bromide, used to treat diseased peach trees, has really given him no choice, as most of his trees won’t survive without it.
Many of Mitcham’s trees have already died.
The EPA claims using this chemical threatens the earth’s ozone layer.
Mitcham told Watchdog the federal regulations have also forced him to downsize his business from 60 employees to 20.
“Well, with more acreage to use we would be prospering,” Mitcham said. “We had the potential to be a million dollar business, but definitely not now.”
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