The Environmental Protection Agency’s “herbicide strategy,” part of the agency’s lawsuit-driven rewriting of U.S. pesticide regulations, will be complex and costly to follow, agricultural organizations warn.

The strategy will introduce new off-label restrictions on applying conventional herbicides in the continental U.S. The EPA says the rules will protect more than 900 rare plants and animals that depend on the plants.

Ag groups respond

In remarks submitted before the EPA closed a public-comment period Oct. 22, farms groups and some states blasted the EPA for not considering how its plan will affect weed control and food production.

“Proposals of this nature make it impossible for smaller family farms to remain competitive in a global market,” the Oregon Farm Bureau commented.

The EPA committed to finalizing the herbicide strategy by May 30, 2024, in the recent pesticide “megasuit” settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity and Pesticide Action Network.

The EPA also pledged to develop insecticide, fungicide and rodenticide strategies, as well as adopt a ”vulnerable species pilot” to limit or prohibit pesticides on more than 100 million acres in parts of 29 states.

EPA responds

The strategies and pilot respond to allegations the EPA violates the Endangered Species Act by registering pesticides before consulting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service.

EPA admits the accusation and promises “early actions” to protect species from pesticides, rather than waiting to finish scientific reviews called for by the Federal Fungicide, Insecticide and Rodenticide Act.

EPA says it will start with the herbicide strategy because farmers apply more herbicide than any other type of crop-protection chemical.

The herbicide strategy will introduce a point-scoring system, requiring farmers to check an EPA website to make sure they’re taking enough precautions before applying a particular herbicide in a particular location.

Farmers also could get credit for conservation practices that keep chemicals from running off fields.

North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said the herbicide strategy will compel famers to follow complicated and unnecessary restrictions.

The EPA, targeted for lawsuits for not meeting its Endangered Species Act obligations, is now inviting being taken to court for taking shortcuts with FIFRA, Goehring told the EPA.

“To avoid being sued, EPA should simply withdraw its strategy and start over,” Goehring wrote.

EPA pleads that following FIFRA takes too long. The agency says it takes four to 12 years to analyze a pesticide and consult with the other federal agencies.

The herbicide strategy has the potential to provide baseline protections for species, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

The center urged the EPA to simplify the strategy so that it’s effective and enforceable.

“The herbicide strategy’s point-system and credits are complex,” the center commented. “Combined with existing label requirements and other EPA efforts, labels will be very challenging to fully follow.”

‘Pilot’ pesticide plan met with dire warnings, disbelief