BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Farmers and commercial applicators are preparing for the implications of enhanced U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations pertaining to pesticide applications. According to the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA), pest management protocols will be affected by label changes to many pesticide products under requirements mandated by the Endangered Species Act (ESA). 

 “The U.S. EPA is developing an updated Endangered Species Act (ESA) Workplan that addresses how the agency can protect nearly 1,700 threatened and endangered species and their critical habitats while governing the registration, distribution, sale and use of pesticides,” the WSSA reported in a recent news release from executive director Dr. Lee Van Wychen.

Van Wychen explained that in order to comply with the ESA, EPA will evaluate the potential effects of pesticides on federally threatened or endangered species and their critical habitats. EPA will then recommend mitigation strategies developed in partnership with other federal agencies.

The strategies could include requirements for vegetative filter strips, field borders and grassed waterways, terracing, contour farming, cover cropping, mulching, the adoption of no tillage or reduced tillage strategies, along with the safe disposal of excess seed that has been treated with pesticides, according to Van Wychen. Such protections would become part of a formal registration review process for various geographic regions and various groups of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, he said. 

“The EPA’s recent reregistration of the Enlist One and Enlist Duo herbicides provides a preview of what’s in store,” explained Bill Chism, Ph.D., WSSA’s ESA committee chair. “The updated product labels include new application timing requirements designed to reduce runoff, leaching, spray drift and other off-target impacts on threatened and endangered species and their critical habitats. In addition, the products can no longer be used in certain counties.”

The WSSA and its affiliates have submitted a joint response to the EPA’s call for public comments on the ESA workplan update. Selected highlights from their response include:

Broader adoption of new agricultural technologies could support the EPA’s objectives and reduce total herbicide use. Examples include steam weeding, electrical weeding, unmanned drones, vision-guided systems for targeted precision spraying, and harvesters that can destroy weed seeds. In addition, hooded sprayers can reduce the risk of spray drift.

The EPA plans to post detailed application instructions online rather than relying solely on the printed product label.

The organizations recommend that EPA use greater granularity when it comes to defining areas where certain pesticides are prohibited. 

The WSSA urges growers and land managers to become familiar with the EPA’s updated workplan and with how to access important application instructions online through EPA’s Bulletins Live! Two. WSSA and its affiliates have posted their full response to the EPA workplan online at the WSSA website.

Harrison Pittman, director of the National Agricultural Law Center at the University of Arkansas, told farmers gathered in Peoria in January that chemicals used in farming, including pesticides, will become even more difficult to register in coming years due to EPA’s new endangered species regulations. This and keeping existing product registrations in place for pesticides farmers already depend upon should be areas of concern for farmers and ag input retailers as a result of the new EPA workplan, he said during the 2023 Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association (IFCA) Convention and Trade Show. 

“The registration of products with the EPA, which was hard to start with, is harder now and it will be harder in the future. Maintaining registrations will be a huge challenge,” said Pittman, adding that fertilizer and chemical retailers can expect more civil and legal action coming their way that will seek to restrict or eliminate pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and other chemicals farmers rely on to control pests and disease.

“On the registration side, it’s difficult to imagine new products being brought to market without taking on some kind of legal challenge,” Pittman said. “I think this represents the biggest change in the crop protection industry and the ag industry as a whole in decades.”

A November 2022 update from the EPA more clearly defined the steps the agency would take in issuing new pesticide registrations and renewing existing ones. The update states, in part, that over the next six years, existing court-enforceable deadlines will require EPA to complete ESA reviews for 18 pesticides — the most EPA estimates it can handle during this period based on its current capacity and processes.

“Ag retailers and farmers applying pest management tools should buckle their seat belt” in preparation for new pesticide application regulations, said KJ Johnson, executive director for the IFCA, in a newsletter to members.

“We encourage all who are involved in pest management disciplines (farmers, applicators, scientists, etc.) to become more familiar with the ESA and how the EPA proposes to meet the agency’s requirements under ESA when registering or reregistering pesticides,” added Aaron Hager, weed scientist for the University of Illinois Department of Crop Sciences.