Guilty plea to one pesticide infraction, other charges stayed
Alex Docherty fined $1,000 for spraying without a valid applicator's certificate
A legal battle ended today for a well-known Island farmer. Alex Docherty, a former chair of the P.E.I. Potato Board, pleaded guilty to spraying pesticide without a valid applicators certificate. Other charges connected to pesticide use were stayed.
Outside court, Docherty said he was relieved but frustrated.
"If they're charging me, then they're leaving somebody else alone," said Docherty. "But it's sad for our industry, these frivolous charges. We used to call them recreational charges that they just come up with something to do and lay charges."
Environment officials laid the charges as a result of their investigation of a fish kill on the Clyde River following torrential rains on July 24, 2016. As part of that investigation, officials scrutinized pesticide application log books of local farmers, including Docherty, showing where, when and how they had used pesticides that summer. Most of the charges concerned the contents of those log books.
A three-day court trial had been slated to begin Tuesday in Charlottetown. Docherty was facing four charges. His farming business, Skye View Farms, faced four identical charges. His guilty plea -- to a single incident of spraying without a valid Class A applicators certificate -- brought the case to a close.
Docherty believes the incident on the Clyde River last summer had more to do with the torrential rains than with local farming practices.
"We're all in it together. There's no farmer certainly wants to harm a fish," said Docherty. "They shouldn't call them fish kills. It's an event that occurred and nobody can explain usually."
Docherty's one guilty plea related to a single incident last June. Court heard he sprayed part of a neighbour's cornfield with Roundup, but his applicator's certificate, which must be renewed every five years, had expired. Docherty's adult son, who did have a valid certificate, was riding in the cab of the sprayer with him at the time.
Docherty was fined $1,000. He now holds a valid applicator's certificate.
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Corrections
- An earlier version of this story stated the incident happened in July 2015. It actually happened in July 2016Jun 06, 2017 5:45 PM AT