Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, along with 81 other agriculture organizations, signed on to a joint letter formally objecting to the EPA’s rule to revoke all uses of the insecticide chlorpyrifos and asking the EPA to consider continued agricultural uses under its ongoing, normal-order registration review. The letter asks the EPA to rescind the rule to “avoid significant and irreparable harm to food and agricultural stakeholders” and also requests that the EPA stop implementation of the rule until objections can be formally addressed.
The EPA rule was issued on Aug. 30, 2021, and bans the use of chlorpyrifos. Citing concerns with the underlying data and methodologies taken by the EPA, stakeholders say the ban will lead to the loss of an effective tool against certain pests, the disposal of safe food products, and economical and environmental harm.
Farm Bureau has advocated against banning the use of the pesticide. Chlorpyrifos has more than 50 registered agricultural uses on numerous crops and is the only effective tool against significant pests in peach, plum, soybean and sugarbeet crops, to name a few examples.
American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall called the EPA action shortsighted, saying, “Taking care of the land and our natural resources is a top priority for farmers, and this revocation rule actually makes it harder for us to do that. EPA veered from its own scientific evidence in a decision that could be damaging to the land, to farmers and to our efforts to fight food insecurity.”
Click here to read the full letter.