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EPA insecticide strategy “workable”

The president of the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association says farmers need to familiarize themselves with the EPA’s new insecticide strategy.

KJ Johnson says it’s the agency’s next step in meeting court-ordered obligations under the Endangered Species Act.

“I hear this many times, ‘With the new administration all this stuff is probably just going to get put on the back shelf and just won’t happen.’” He says, “I will tell you this is all because of court rulings, so some of this stuff is going to go into effect. Does that maybe get slowed down within the administration? It could be.”

He tells Brownfield the strategy identifies mitigations for spray drift and runoff & erosion reductions aimed at protecting more than 900 listed species.

“They did take a lot of stuff from their revamped version of the herbicide strategy and used a lot of that into the insecticide, so we think we can make it workable.”  He says, “Is it going to change how people do stuff? Yes, but we are still looking to that.”

Johnson says the changes will affect insecticides as they are reauthorized, so farmers will need to keep up with potential label changes over the next several years.

“The good thing is not all pesticides are going to hit all one time.”  He says, “All chemicals are reviewed every 15 years, so that’s all going to be when those products are re-reviewed.”

He says the EPA is expected to release further information on the strategy in the coming weeks.

AUDIO – KJ Johnson – IFCA