25 Mar 2020
Backyard Organics Fox Valley Wisconsin

COVID 19 and Backyard Organics

Spring is a time for trees to bud, flowers to blossom, grass to grow and the sun to shine a bit brighter and its our mission to make sure we do whatever we can to make that happen this year as well.

At this point we intend to start clean ups, as previously scheduled, in the beginning of April and will once again start applications later in April (depending on the weather).

We certainly value our conversations with our clients however, In an effort to stay a safe distance, we would appreciate it if you direct all questions you may have to my email ([email protected]) rather than having a face to face conversation while onsite during clean ups or applications.

Happy Spring.  Be kind and be well.

Todd

07 Sep 2012
court room gavel

Scotts Miracle Gro Fined $12.5 Million in Pesticide Case

CONTACT:
Enesta Jones
[email protected]
202-564-7873
202-564-4355

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 7, 2012

Scotts Miracle-Gro Will Pay $12.5 Million in Criminal Fines and Civil Penalties for Violations of Federal Pesticide Laws

WASHINGTON — The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, a producer of pesticides for commercial and consumer lawn and garden uses, was sentenced today in federal district court in Columbus, Ohio, to pay a $4 million fine and perform community service for eleven criminal violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), which governs the manufacture, distribution, and sale of pesticides. Scotts pleaded guilty in February 2012 to illegally applying insecticides to its wild bird food products that are toxic to birds, falsifying pesticide registration documents, distributing pesticides with misleading and unapproved labels, and distributing unregistered pesticides. This is the largest criminal penalty under FIFRA to date.

In a separate civil agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scotts agreed to pay more than $6 million in penalties and spend $2 million on environmental projects to resolves additional civil pesticide violations. The violations include distributing or selling unregistered, canceled, or misbranded pesticides, including products with inadequate warnings or cautions. This is the largest civil settlement under FIFRA to date.

“The misuse or mislabeling of pesticide products can cause serious illness in humans and be toxic to wildlife,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Today’s sentence and unprecedented civil settlement hold Scotts accountable for widespread company noncompliance with pesticide laws, which put products into the hands of consumers without the proper authorization or warning labels.”

“As the world’s largest marketer of residential use pesticides, Scotts has a special obligation to make certain that it observes the laws governing the sale and use of its products. For having failed to do so, Scotts has been sentenced to pay the largest fine in the history of FIFRA enforcement,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. “The Department of Justice will continue to work with EPA to assure that pesticides applied in homes and on lawns and food are sold and used in compliance with the laws intended to assure their safety.”

In the plea agreement, Scotts admitted that it applied the pesticides Actellic 5E and Storcide II to its bird food products even though EPA had prohibited this use. Scotts had done so to protect its bird foods from insect infestation during storage. Scotts admitted that it used these pesticides contrary to EPA directives and in spite of the warning label appearing on all Storicide II containers stating, “Storcide II is extremely toxic to fish and toxic to birds and other wildlife.” Scotts sold this illegally treated bird food for two years after it began marketing its bird food line and for six months after employees specifically warned Scotts management of the dangers of these pesticides. By the time it voluntarily recalled these products in March 2008, Scotts had sold more than 70 million units of bird food illegally treated with pesticide that is toxic to birds.

Scotts also pleaded guilty to submitting false documents to EPA and to state regulatory agencies in an effort to deceive them into believing that numerous pesticides were registered with EPA when in fact they were not. The company also pleaded guilty to having illegally sold the unregistered pesticides and to marketing pesticides bearing labels containing false and misleading claims not approved by EPA. The falsified documents submitted to EPA and states were attributed to a federal product manager at Scotts.

In addition to the $4 million criminal fine, Scotts will contribute $500,000 to organizations that protect bird habitat, including $100,000 each to the Ohio Audubon’s Important Bird Area Program, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Urban Forestry Program, the Columbus Metro-Parks Bird Habitat Enhancement Program, the Cornell University Ornithology Laboratory, and The Nature Conservancy of Ohio to support the protection of bird populations and habitats through conservation, research, and education.

At the time the criminal violations were discovered, EPA also began a civil investigation that uncovered numerous civil violations spanning five years. Scotts’ FIFRA civil violations included the nationwide distribution or sale of unregistered, canceled, or misbranded pesticides, including products with inadequate warnings or cautions. As a result, EPA issued more than 40 Stop Sale, Use or Removal Orders to Scotts to address more than 100 pesticide products.

In addition to the $6 million civil penalty, Scotts will complete environmental projects, valued at $2 million, to acquire, restore and protect 300 acres of land to prevent runoff of agricultural chemicals into nearby waterways.

The criminal case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Environmental Enforcement Unit of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation. It was prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Jeremy F. Korzenik of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, by Michael J. McClary, EPA Criminal Enforcement Counsel and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and by Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Michael Marous.

The civil case was investigated by U.S. EPA Region 5’s Land and Chemicals Division and Office of Regional Counsel, and the U.S. EPA Headquarters Office of Civil Enforcement, assisted by the Office of Pesticides Program.

More information about the civil settlement and recalled products: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/cases/civil/fifra/scottsmiraclegro.html

15 Jul 2011
Backyard Organics Fox Valley Wisconsin

July 2011 Newsletter

First, I would like to thank each of you for showing your dedication to your family and the environment by providing a safe alternative to chemical lawn care. It’s a rare opportunity to be a part of a purposeful career and after careers as an engineer, manufacturing consultant and a owner of an distribution company, I believe I have found a purpose in Backyard Organics and I appreciate the opportunity to share that with you.

Spring was an interesting season. Learning a new business and dealing with the weather were challenging, but I’m very pleased about our progress and grateful for the on-going support of dedicated professionals. Additionally, I’d like to thank you for your patience as we worked through the growing pains of new ownership.

March and April were spent applying the important early spring application. The corn gluten used in this application can take some time to work into the soil, which allowed some of our pets to consider it a treat unfortunately. This lead to a search and discovery of an alternative to this challenge. If your pets are eating the corn gluten and you would like an alternative we will apply a powder form that can be watered into the soil more quickly.

Our first wet applications started in late May, and we finished our first summer application the last week in June. Our Summer 2 application will start in Mid August. As usual, we will notify you with specific dates as we approach mid August. Early fall and winter application will follow up in late October or early November, depending on the weather.

We are excited to share our new partnerships with you. Backyard Organics has established some partnerships that we are excited to be apart of and let you know about. Because of my past experience with Habitat for Humanity and our commitment to give back to our community, Backyard Organics has donated its products and services to all new homes built in the valley by Habitat for Humanity. Vande Hey Landscaping has partnered with us on this venture to further enrich these new lawns.

Additional exciting relationships are the ones that we established with some of our local retailers. You can now find our products at Festival Foods (New London), The Free Market, Vande Hey Landscapes, Just Act Natural, Two Paws Up Bakery (Appleton), The Red Radish (Neenah), Natural Healthy Concepts (Menasha), and Schmalz Garden Center (Darboy). Please visit these local retailers; buying local benefits our community significantly.

We are also very excited to further our relationship with the Fox Valley Technical College’s organic land care leadership. We recently met with them to discuss how we can help each other in our quest to establish an organic presence in local land care. Backyard Organics and FVTC are promoting the same techniques and philosophies regarding organic land care and are two of three organizations in Wisconsin accredited by NOFA. We will certainly share more about this collaboration in future news letters.

Once again, thank you for your dedication to our service and organic land care. We look forward to a long and healthy relationship.

Todd