Four years ago, Larry Jacobs, President of Jacobs Farm/Del Cabo, received an unfortunate phone call from Whole Foods. The retail giant notified him that it was rejecting the organic dill he had sold the chain because the herb had tested positive for pesticides. Jacobs’ response was “that’s not possible…I haven’t sprayed pesticides since I got sick spraying pesticides 40 years ago.”  As it turns out, Jacobs’ 120-acre herb farm, just north of Santa Cruz in Wilder Ranch State Park, was the victim of a hard-to-detect but relatively simple scientific process: Pesticides applied in liquid form to nearby brussel sprouts later evaporated and were carried in vapor, through wind or fog, to Jacobs’ dill.

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