Anchored in soil, the plastic tarps stretched over vast fields by strawberry farmers are supposed to capture pesticide emissions and make people feel safe.

But in one midtown Ventura neighborhood, the recent sight of tarps being applied on a field some 30 yards from homes triggered suspicion and worry.

Residents on Channel Drive, fearful of being exposed to farm chemicals, filed a challenge Friday to the county's authorization of the use of the soil fumigant chloropicrin on the 45-acre field that borders their homes and is within three blocks of Blanche Reynolds School.

The Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner's Office said the use of chloropicrin a popular replacement for methyl bromide is perfectly legal and the farmer is following the law.

No notification required

Growers say soil fumigants are the most efficient way of killing off pests and generating the greatest crop yield.

But that's little reassurance to resident Kathleen Neprud, a part-time art teacher who cares for her grandson at home three days a week. She said chloropicrin, which was used as tear gas in World War I, would put residents, including the elderly and schoolchildren, at risk.

Unlike methyl bromide, the use of chloropicrin requires neither public notification nor a buffer zone.

"Unless you recognize what all that plastic means, how would you know the dangers that are there?" Neprud said. "This feels like a steamroller."

But Susan Johnson, deputy agricultural commissioner, said the residents have nothing to fear.

"If we believed the residents were in any danger, we would not issue a permit. Period," she said.

"We are sympathetic to the residents' concerns, but we cannot simply say no to farmers who have a right to farm their land."

Farmer is frustrated, too

For decades, row crops such as lettuce, broccoli and celery have been planted on the field, which sits between Highway 101 and the railroad tracks behind Channel Drive.

The farmer, Edgar Terry of Terry Farms, said he would be happy to grow something else or go organic, but his lease payment on the land is increasing 8 percent to $2,600 an acre on July 1.

He estimates that over the past eight years, the compounded annual rent on his cropland has gone up by 20 percent.

The economic pressures to stay in business force him to rely on chemicals.

"I have to be able to find crops that justify those land rents," he said. "Unfortunately, row crops won't do it anymore."

In use for decades

Chloropicrin has benefited crop owners since the 1920s. Its popularity has surged now that the more toxic methyl bromide is being phased out internationally, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Ventura County strawberry growers also face strict caps on emissions from chloropicrin and other chemicals at the beginning of 2008, the state announced Friday. They might have to resort to pulling thousands of acres out of production to meet the new smog targets.

The colorless, nonflammable liquid is injected into the soil through a drip system buried 3 to 4 inches underground to destroy pests and get the soil ready for planting. The plastic tarp is sealed on top to trap emissions.

Terry said he will hire a professional soil fumigator to apply a blend of chloropicrin and telone over a period of several days sometime in the next two weeks, unless his permit is revoked.

His crews would oversee the process. Strawberries would be planted in June.

"We are doing every possible thing we can to make sure there is no drift," Terry said. "I understand the neighbors' concerns. I have kids, too."

The Pesticide Action Network, a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, believes chloropicrin to be a dangerous pesticide and says exposure poses health risks, including gastrointestinal problems, eye and skin irritation, blurred vision and dizziness.

A 'bad actor' chemical

"It's a 'bad actor' chemical that we would like to see phased out and banned," spokeswoman Stephenie Hendricks said.

In 2005, about 360 residents in the Salinas area were exposed to chloropicrin when it was improperly applied to a nearby strawberry field. Many suffered watery eyes and sore throats.

Leo Montero, who has three children living at his Channel Drive home, said prevailing winds often blow off the ocean toward the homes, and passing trains stir up dust and dirt from the field that circulate into their yards.

"I will challenge anyone when it comes to my kids' lives," Montero said.

The Agricultural Commissioner's Office has 10 days to issue a written decision on the neighbors' challenge.

Rampant mistrust

According to Johnson, some 20,000 acres are fumigated each year in Ventura County. "It is simply impossible for us to notify everyone near every field," Johnson said.

Even if the office did require notification, she said, it likely wouldn't be beneficial because mistrust of agriculture is rampant.

"There is nothing we could say that they would believe," she said.

In the future, the office hopes to have a Web site to post notices of fumigation. Ventura-area growers already have implemented safety techniques not required by the state, such as using the tarps.

"Our hope," Johnson said, "is that people will coexist with farming or help to take the land out of farming."