Tennessee Farm Bureau continues to be an active participant in the regulatory process for essential crop protection products. The organization is urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make available the varied tools farmers need to produce the best quality and highest yielding crops and protect them from pest pressures.
First, in 2022, EPA announced its Endangered Species Act Workplan to better protect endangered and threatened species through changes to its pesticide registration review process based on a Federal court order. Last summer, EPA released their herbicide-specific strategy, proposing to require specific numbers of mitigation practices based on the herbicide in question and requirements for applicators to follow prior to using herbicides in areas where listed species inhabit or are believed to inhabit. The final rule is expected to be published in August 2024, a preliminary insecticide-specific strategy is likely to be released this summer and a fungicide-specific proposal will follow. TFBF will continue to urge EPA to create a workable plan which supports production agriculture while protecting listed species.
Earlier this year, an Arizona federal court ruled to vacate the label of three dicamba products – Xtendimax, Engenia and Tavium – for over-the-top (OTT) use on dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybeans based on a rulemaking technicality. TFBF sent a letter imploring EPA to grant an Existing Stocks Order for the 2024 crop year, which they did. Since then, TFBF continues to support the re-registration of these products, sharing their significance for Tennessee’s cotton and soybean producers and the importance of making them available for growers for the 2025 crop year.
TFBF has also been engaged in other proposals affecting crop protection including:
– Supporting pesticide-treated seed being exempt from Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) regulations
– Opposing stricter restrictions on pesticides on national wildlife refuges participating in cooperative agriculture agreements
– Opposing a proposal to vacate almost all registered uses of acephate, an insecticide used primarily on soybeans and cotton in the southeastern U.S.
– Supporting the registration of glufosinate-P, a new active ingredient for the currently registered herbicide glufosinate, allowing for early season and post-emergence use on canola, cotton, corn and soybeans
