Farming + PFAS in Allegan County

In April 2022, a new report released by a nonprofit group called Environmental Working Group determined that up to 20 million acres of farmland across the United States are contaminated with PFAS.

The state of Michigan has nearly 10 million acres of farmland, and Allegan County has 230,000 acres of farmland or food cultivation areas. Sadly these lands are not immune to the toxic effects of PFAS contamination. In Allegan County alone, there are 3 contamination sites.

Farmland is contaminated through sewage sludge, leftover wastewater from processing plants and other industrial manufacturing facilities. It’s not just the land itself, but the crops we grow and the animals that use those crops for feed.

PFAS is a forever chemical, it does not break down when it is in the environment, so farming practices from 15 or 20 years ago that contained PFAs are still contaminating our crops, animal feed, and animal products that we consume.

We need to act now on PFAS, and it needs to be stopped at the source. Approximately 30,000 different companies leak PFAS into the environment, either directly or indirectly.