If your small farm or garden looks healthy one day, but the next you notice twisted, cupped, scorched, or discolored leaves on your vegetables, fruits, flowers, or trees – and you live near corn or soybean fields – you could be seeing the effects of herbicide drift. You are not alone.
In the past month, I have received several calls from small specialty crop farmers and gardeners around Bloomington-Normal reporting strange leaf damage – such as yellowing, browning, cupping, or curling – and stunted, deformed growth in their tomatoes, raspberries, peppers, grapes, and even trees.
What is the common thread? It may be herbicide applications on nearby field crops drifting off-target. While other factors like disease, heat, or nutrient issues can cause similar symptoms to plants like those reported, some of my callers watched applicators spraying nearby fields, or encountered strange smells. All the callers – whether they observed drift or not – described similar symptoms around the same time.
With conventional field crops covering most of central Illinois farmland, herbicide drift has long been a recurring issue for small farmers, homesteaders, and gardeners. This year, it seems especially widespread – or perhaps more people are recognizing and reporting it. Likely, it’s both.
The herbicides used on Illinois field crops are powerful weed control tools. They undergo strict approval processes, applicators must be licensed, and new federal rules are tightening drift-reduction requirements. Still, incidents of damage to nearby specialty crops continue to be reported.
The big question is: what should you do if you suspect herbicide drift has hit your farm or garden?
Document and Monitor
If you see a sprayer operating nearby and notice an off-target chemical smell or visible mist, take photos or video (safely and respectfully). Write down the date, time, location, wind direction, and anything you notice that day or in the coming days or weeks.
It is unlikely that you will see any drift occurring. However, if you start to notice symptoms like:
- Cupped or curled leaves
- Brown leaf edges or scorched tips
- Misshapen new growth at tops of plants
- Sudden wilting of farm or garden crop without drought
...you may still have a case of herbicide drift.
Contact the Applicator and Find Out More
The best way to find out more information about potential drift damage is to begin a respectful conversation with the neighbor/applicator as soon as possible. Wave them down, knock on their door, get their attention. Ask what compound(s) was/were sprayed and take notes. This information can later help IDOA, Extension, or other agricultural experts identify potential food safety issues and/or recommend next steps, such as soil remediation strategies.
While this conversation may be uncomfortable, respectfully making contact may be the most constructive option in the long run to avoid future instances of drift. And it is the only way to find out if or when your garden produce would be safe to eat.
Jump straight to the next step if you did not see any instance of herbicide drift, but you suspect drift damage to food crops.
File a Complaint with the Illinois Department of Agriculture
If you believe herbicide drift has damaged your garden, you can file a free pesticide misuse complaint with the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA). This must be done within 30 days of the incident.
How to file a complaint:
- Download the form at from the IDOA Pesticide Uses and Misuses Website
- Fill out your contact info and describe the incident and symptoms.
- Submit it by email, mail, or fax.
Once submitted, IDOA will:
- Send a trained pesticide investigator to your site—at no cost to you.
- Collect samples of leaves or fruit for laboratory residue testing.
- Contact the applicator and review spray records and weather data.
While IDOA can’t offer compensation, they can document violations and give you official lab results that may help determine answers to food crop safety questions and can inform discussions with the applicator or their insurance.
Pause Before Eating
Here’s the tough part: if you know your specialty crop planting or garden was exposed to herbicides, you should not consume the produce until the compound sprayed is known.
Final Thoughts
Drift is never intentional. Farmers are trying to do their jobs responsibly—but when wind shifts, applicator booms are too high, or temperatures aren’t right, neighbors can suffer real impacts.
If your garden gets hit, don’t panic, but don’t eat the produce yet. Document everything, contact IDOA, and get the facts. It’s the safest way forward.
For more information on this subject, please reference the Illinois Extension Fact Sheet called How to Handle Pesticide Drift Complaints: a Guide for Those Affected by Drift – produced by the Illinois Pesticide Safety Education Program.