Tag Archives: Maddie Campbell

EPA Announced Final Insecticide Strategy

October 4, 2024UncategorizedEndangered Species Act, EPA, ESA, FloridAgriculture eNewsletter, Insecticide, Insecticide Strategy, Maddie Campbell, United States Environmental Protection AgencyShelby Martin

October 2024 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the Draft Insecticide Strategy (“Insecticide Strategy”) which outlines the changes that growers may need to implement on their farms to be in compliance with insecticide labels.

In 2022, the EPA was found in violation of their consultation process regarding the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Federal Fungicide, Insecticide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Due to this, the EPA will be releasing a series of frameworks to address registration and labeling of herbicides, insecticides, rodenticides, and fungicides. The Insecticide Strategy is the second of four strategy frameworks aimed to minimize ecological impacts on federally endangered and threatened (listed) species and their critical habitats.

Similar to the Final Herbicide Strategy, the Insecticide Strategy proposes the mitigation or efficacy points that a grower may need to gain through a “mitigation menu” of approved practices to be in compliance with an insecticide label. Furthermore, the Strategy identifies Pesticide Use Limitation Areas (PULAs), where growers will be subject to earn an even greater number of points due to their potential increased vulnerability to impacting endangered and threatened species through run-off, erosion, and spray drift.

A copy of Florida Farm Bureau Federation’s comments to the EPA regarding the Draft Insecticide Strategy can be found here. Please contact Maddie Campbell with any questions or concerns.

EPA Announced Final Herbicide Strategy

October 4, 2024UncategorizedEndangered Species Act, EPA, ESA, FloridAgriculture eNewsletter, Herbicide, Herbicide Strategy, Maddie Campbell, United States Environmental Protection AgencyShelby Martin

October 2024 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the Final Herbicide Strategy Framework (“Herbicide Strategy”) which outlines the changes that growers may need to implement on their farms to be in compliance with herbicide labels.

In 2022, the EPA was found in violation of their consultation process regarding the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Federal Fungicide, Insecticide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Due to this, the EPA will be releasing a series of frameworks to address registration and labeling of herbicides, insecticides, rodenticides, and fungicides. The Herbicide Strategy is the first of its kind aimed to minimize ecological impacts on federally endangered and threatened (listed) species and their critical habitats.

The Herbicide Strategy proposes the mitigation or efficacy points that a grower may need to gain through a “mitigation menu” of approved practices to be in compliance with an herbicide label. Furthermore, the Strategy identifies Pesticide Use Limitation Areas (PULAs), where growers will be subject to earn an even greater number of points due to their potential increased vulnerability to impacting endangered and threatened species through run-off, erosion, and spray drift.

To access the Final Herbicide Strategy issue brief, click here. Please contact Maddie Campbell with any questions or concerns.

Florida Farm Bureau Provides Comments on Dicamba Solution

March 11, 2024UncategorizedAg Policy, dicamba, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, FloridAgriculture eNewsletter, Maddie Campbell, pesticidesShelby Martin

March 2024 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

On February 6, 2024, a federal court in Arizona issued a ruling stating the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must vacate the 2020 registrations for over-the-top use of three dicamba-based pesticides; XtendiMax, Engenia, and Tavium.

This ruling is a result of a lawsuit (Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. EPA) that found the EPA in violation of their legal agreements under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). This is the second ruling that has ordered EPA to vacate a dicamba registration, following a ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which overturned the then-current over-the-top dicamba registration in June 2020. While the decision from the Arizona court relies on different legal arguments than the Ninth Circuit’s 2020 decision, the outcome is the same.

On February 14th, EPA issued an existing stocks order. This order allows farmers to use dicamba directly onto crops during the 2024 growing season, as long as the pesticides were “labeled, packaged, and released for shipment” prior to February 6. After the 2024 season, it is unclear if these three dicamba products will be available for over-the-top use. More than 75% of the cotton acres across the Cotton Belt were planted with dicamba-tolerant traits in the 2023 season.

Florida Farm Bureau Federation is committed to working alongside the EPA to find a more feasible solution that will meet the EPA’s legal obligations to the ESA and FIFRA, while also maintaining access to the necessary tools that producers need. Please reach out to Maddie Campbell with any questions or concerns. More information can be found here.