Oust

 Ouch to Oust…farmers damaged by herbicide drift get substantial damages. This is a story that’s part true, part science fiction, but all horror. When a federal agency sprayed the powerful herbicide Oust on BLM land, it eventually wiped out crops worth millions of dollars for 118 local farmers and some of them lost more than money.? Brad Rogers of Paul was one of the farmers. He lost his entire 1,100-acre farm. 

Attorney Peter Houtsma explains what happened: “In 1999 and 2000 the BLM sprayed primarily by helicopter an herbicicide vknown as Oust to 50,000 acres of land in South Central Idaho. The land that it was sprayed upon was land that had been burned by wildfires in the state and Oust was sprayed in order to control cheatgrass. In the spring when there were some pretty strong winds, it blew off the sites upon which it was applied and 70 miles downwind which is where some of our clients farms were located.” 

Not surprisingly there was long-term crop loss and devastation and only now are farmers collecting in court after years of misery.