By Frank Giles
European farmers have taken to the streets to protest government actions that they believe will threaten their viability. The farmers over there are saying much the same thing as the farmers here when regulatory challenges impede their ability to grow food in a reasonable and profitable manner. Food security is national security — without one, you can’t have the other.
EPA Action
Back here in the States, I recently saw a presentation on a topic that U.S. growers should be aware of and be prepared to speak out on. Jake Li, deputy assistant administrator for pesticide programs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), spoke about the Endangered Species Act (ESA) at the Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference in Savannah, Georgia.
He was there to inform growers that the agency is changing its registration process to provide more protections for endangered species. The EPA is taking this action in response to lawsuits being brought against the agency alleging certain pesticide registrations do not adequately provide protection for endangered species. The EPA has been routinely losing these lawsuits. Li noted the agency has not had a framework to adequately provide protections for endangered species in its registration process. That will be changing for the registration of new active ingredients, registration of new uses and reregistration of existing active ingredients.
Lost Cases
In December, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the registration to apply streptomycin as a treatment for diseases like HLB and canker. Li said that the ruling came down on the basis of the ESA.
“Not only did the court strike down the EPA registration; it actually vacated the decision, meaning in the time it would take us to comply with the ESA, streptomycin has been essentially pulled off the shelf for citrus,” Li said. “This is very real now. This also sets precedent for other registrations. In 2021, aldicarb was another example in citrus where a court struck down usage for failure to comply with the ESA. The courts have very much lost patience with EPA.”
Draft Strategies
Li said because of this EPA is developing a framework in which to consider protections of endangered species earlier in the pesticide registration process. Some of those protections would include measures to reduce pesticide drift, runoff and off-target applications
A draft strategy for herbicide registration was released in 2022 to mitigate risks for more than 900 endangered species affected by agricultural uses of conventional herbicides. For reference, there are about 1,600 endangered species that are protected in the United States.
Currently, a draft strategy is being written for insecticides. There is no doubt this will impact the availability and use of crop protection tools. But this strategy can be commented upon during the rule-making process.
I commend University of Georgia weed scientist Stanley Culpepper for inviting Li to speak at the conference in Savannah and for hosting him and other EPA regulators on farm tours. This allows them to better understand how herbicides are used on farms and how important they are to production agriculture.
I also commend Li for encouraging grower feedback and participation in the process. This is an important time to be involved in the conversation while these rules are being written.