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Oct. 19, 2026 Source: Council for Agricultural Science & Technology (CAST) AMES, Iowa -- Farmers sit downstream from PFAS contamination, but they often bear the cost when the chemicals are found in soil, crops, water or food, according to a new paper from the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST). The paper, "PFAS in Agriculture: Science, Uncertainty, and Risk Communication," will be released Friday, Oct. 16, with a free webinar from noon to 1 p.m. CT. The paper was written by Jon Entine, with Mark McDaniel and Thomas Redick as chairs. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS and often called "forever chemicals," reach farmland mostly from outside sources, including biosolids, compost, irrigation water and industrial contamination. Yet the paper finds that farmers, composters and rural communities "find themselves at the center of a crisis largely not of their making," bearing "disproportionate regulatory, economic, and reputational consequences when PFAS are detected." The paper argues that the central flaw in current PFAS policy is treating thousands of chemically diverse compounds as a single, uniform hazard. The Environmental Protection Agency's PFAS structure list contains 21,028 substances, and the strongest evidence of harm is concentrated in a few well-studied compounds, mainly PFOA and PFOS, and in high-exposure scenarios. Real-world risk depends on the specific compound, dose, duration and exposure pathway. The presence of PFAS in agricultural soils or food at trace levels "does not, by itself, establish meaningful harm," the paper states. "Farmers are partners in risk reduction, not convenient downstream targets for contamination they did not cause," the paper concludes. The paper reviews the federal and state regulatory landscape, including the EPA's 2025 Draft Sewage Sludge Risk Assessment, its 2026 draft biosolids guidance and a 2026 National Academies report prepared for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It also reviews litigation trends that affect agricultural producers. It recommends that CAST, land-grant universities and agricultural stakeholders prioritize upstream source control, test higher-risk inputs strategically, interpret results compound by compound, document decisions, engage in state rulemaking and communicate early. Entine, founder and executive director of the Genetic Literacy Project, and McDaniel, vice president of AlterEcho and of TechLaw Consultants Inc., will present the paper. Redick, a retired environmental attorney with Global Environmental Ethics Counsel LLC, will moderate. About CAST The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology is a nonprofit organization that assembles, interprets and communicates credible, balanced scientific information to policymakers, the media, the private sector and the public. Tweet |
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