[sarasota]

I've often wondered about the viability of building a home on formerly cultivated land--the pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and so on that build up in the soil.

[e_engineer]

I've often wondered about the viability of building a home on formerly cultivated land--the pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and so on that build up in the soil.

If they build up in the soil, and remain there, you don't have much to worry about unless you like to eat dirt. The ones to worry about are the chemicals that leach into the ground water. Testing well water for nitrates is pretty common here in Maryland, but if you want to test for pesticides, the test is much more expensive.

There are several water test labs that can be found online, and if you are really worried, you can have them test for almost everything. (expect to pay several hundred dollars for an extensive pesticide test.)

We recently had our well water tested by Etrlabs.com, and were pleased by the rapid response. They email the results in a pdf file within 48 hours of sample receipt IIRC.

[cpst12]

>>I've often wondered about the viability of building a home on formerly cultivated land--

If you are worried about that, then you should be really worried about eating the stuff that came out of the field!

[ridesthemiles]

I've often wondered about the viability of building a home on formerly cultivated land--the pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and so on that build up in the soil.

You probably have the same thing whereever you are now. Some sort of farming has been done thruout the entire USA in the last 300 years. Not all fertilizers come in a bag from DuPont....
While you worry about a potential future move to a rural area, are you EQUALLY worried about the source of the vegetables you are buying everyday in the market? Stuff grown outside the USA doesn't have ANY of the restrictions the growers have here in the USA.

[iowafarmboy]

Land for land; acre for acre; There is more chemical, herbicide, and pesticide use in a suburban residential area than in my corn field. Especially if the "Lawn and Garden" companies apply it for you.