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Jan. 22, 2024 By Aaron Putze, Chief Officer of Strategy and Brand Management for the Iowa Soybean Association *Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) commits to fully implementing federally mandated Endangered Species Act (ESA). *Act requires all federal agencies to ensure their actions don't harm nearly 1,700 listed endangered or threatened species (80 more are under consideration, including the Monarch butterfly). *"Actions" include EPA's registering pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Soybean leaders closely monitoring EPA's actions pertaining to the ESA and FIFRA as its provisions currently implicate the crop protection products used by U.S. farmers on every acre planted to soybeans. The Environmental Protection Agency's latest attempts to implement the federally mandated Endangered Species Act (ESA) are raising major concerns - and headaches - among farmers and ag retailers. Just ask Ashlea Frank, a Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) expert. "I live and breathe it," says Frank. "Perhaps that's why I sometimes can't fall asleep and when I do, feel I'm awakening from what seems like a nightmare." Her perspective is molded by an acute understanding of nearly every nuance of FIFRA and the impact of its implementation on farmers' access to products critical to staving off insects and disease. It's also impacted by her passion for agriculture and a family history of farming in the hill country of central Texas. "This stuff is brutally complicated. It's also deeply personal," she says. ESA's origins Frank represents the 16 participants involved in FIFRA's Endangered Species Task Force. It was created in 1994 to ensure EPA fulfills a federal mandate to track endangered species locations and where pesticide applications occur. The task force's jurisdiction has expanded to support current agency assessments, species protection goals and implementation by end users of crop and livestock protection products. One must first understand the history of the ESA and FIFRA to truly understand its potential implications on the ability of farmers to grow soybeans profitably. The EPA was founded in 1970. Three years later, Congress established the ESA to protect critical species and their habitats. The work is conducted within the U.S. Department of Interior via the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service. The ESA requires all federal agencies to ensure their actions do not harm the nearly 1,700 listed endangered or threatened species (80 more are under consideration, including the Monarch butterfly). "Actions" include the EPA's registering pesticides under FIFRA. To read the entire article click here. Tweet |
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