Herbicide Strategy changes and updates announced by EPA

Courtesy of American Soybean Association EPA announced an update to its Herbicide Strategy, which overall is a positive development in the ongoing dialogue with the agency.

Highlights include:

• Simplified Approach: The recent update signals positive changes, notably the simplification of the system by moving away from the points-based approach in favor of classifying herbicides under a tier-based system. With the revised approach, herbicides would require “none, low, medium, or high” levels of mitigation to prevent runoff. This shift would make navigating the strategy easier for growers and applicators.

• Reducing Compliance Obligations:

EPA is reducing obligations in certain instances in the update. Growers producing in flat or dry areas where runoff risks are minimal are likely to experience little to no mitigations under the update. In a major point of relief, EPA clarified that it does not intend to impose additional restrictions on tile drainage but instead intends to offer tile drainage as an eligible conservation measure for compliance in the future. Also of note, EPA stated it is reconsidering its approach to assessing spray drift risk and indicated it will revise its drift models, include additional areas that can be included in buffers (e.g., roads, managed wetlands), and add additional mitigations to reduce buffer sizes.

• New Mitigation Measures: The agency also clarified that it will immediately add an additional nine measures (e.g., reservoir tillage, soil carbon amendments) to its mitigation menu by which pesticide users can comply with the runoff reduction requirements. While these practices are largely aimed at providing additional measures for specialty crops, they may still have utility for row crop farmers in some instances. EPA also stated it may be providing subclasses of mitigations (e.g., permitting different sized buffers that count differently toward compliance) so there is greater flexibility for pesticide users to comply.

In addition to announcing these changes, EPA reaffirmed its plans to refine pesticide use limitation areas (PULA) maps to narrow areas affected by the ESA proposals and will continue to build out additional compliance options through an upcoming EPA and USDA workshop.

The EPA’s Proposed Herbicide

Strategy and What it

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 was passed by Congress in an effort to protect endangered species and their habitats. In recent years the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been under fire for not meeting the obligations outlined within the ESA, which ultimately left them vulnerable to legal ramifications. In early 2022 the EPA released the ESA workplan to address this issue. The herbicide strategy is one part of this larger workplan to protect the 900 plant and animal species classified as endangered. The proposed herbicide strategy was released in July 2023 and outlined the EPA’s plan for meeting ESA obligations with respect to herbicide drift, runoff, and/or erosion.

The proposed