What do we know about PFAS presence at Buckwheat Blossom Farm?
1) The Buckwheat Blossom Farm, located in Wiscasset, Maine, grazes sheep and chickens on pasture created from forest.
2) The practice of combining forest with pasture is known as silvopasture and is a form of agroforestry.
3) The silvopasture approach means that sludge containing PFAS, or "forever chemicals", have not historically been spread at BBF.
4) In addition, there are no reported sludge sites within the BBF project land area, or in the Wiscasset area, according to data collected by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection PFAS data map.
5) The interactive map can be found here:
https://maine.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=815b4093464c405daf7a17e43a1d9da7
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large group of human-made chemicals that have been used in industry and consumer products worldwide since the 1950s. These chemicals are used to make household and commercial products that resist heat and chemical reactions and repel oil, stains, grease and water. PFAS chemicals include PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonic acid).