Council of Producers & Distributors of Agrotechnology

Terry Kippley, CPDA

July 13, 2023

New Member Update

I am pleased to announce that AMVAC and Fanwood Chemical have become the newest members of CPDA. Both companies bring a long history of innovation, technical expertise, and commitment to advocacy to the CPDA family. 

In the challenging political and regulatory environment we live in, it’s always welcome news when others join us to bolster and support our efforts in Washington DC and in state Capitols across the U.S. Please help me in welcoming AMVAC and Fanwood!

Farm Bill Update

With Congress back in town, we continue our work to include several CPDA-member priorities in the 2023 farm bill. One of these is for Congress to establish an adjuvant incentive program through the Conservation Title of the farm bill to encourage farmers to utilize adjuvants as a conservation tool.

To that end, our farm bill lobbying team of Tim Cansler, Jay Vroom and Scott Rawlins met last Friday with USDA’s Lindsay Haines. She is the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) National Organic and Pest Management Specialist. During their meeting, Lindsay mentioned that adjuvants are already offered as a mitigation strategy and IPM technique for reducing pesticide environmental risk. In an NRCS Technical Manual entitled “Pest Management in the Conservation Planning Process,” adjuvants are recommended as a practice that can reduce pesticide exposure. Additionally, “specific pesticide formulations and/or adjuvants can increase efficacy and allow lower application rates; drift retardant adjuvants can reduce pesticide spray drift.”

What this means is that growers who utilize adjuvants to reduce pesticide exposure can qualify for cost share funds for other conservation programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program. 

NRCS does not track how often growers utilize this incentive, so data is unavailable to tell us whether local NRCS offices are taking advantage of this provision or not. From this point forward, CPDA will work to educate our grower stakeholders about the “adjuvant advantage” already available to them.



Coupled with this is our support for Senate Bill 1400 and House Resolution 3036, the “Increased Technical Service Provider (TSP) Access Act of 2023.” Given the nationwide shortage of TSPs, this legislation would direct USDA to establish a process to approve non-Federal certifying entities, including agricultural retailer agronomists and cooperatives to qualify as NRCS TSPs. This would allow CPDA member companies who employ professional agronomists to qualify as TSPs. They could then assist USDA by providing their farmer customers with much-needed direct & certified technical know-how to plan, design, install, and certify conservation practices. This includes recommending the use of adjuvants as an approved conservation practice. 

For the past several months, we have been working with Dr. Mano Basu of CropLife America on developing an adjuvant database to be used in CLA’s Mitigation Strategy Tool or MiST. Drift reducing adjuvants can play a crucial role in mitigating the effects of pesticide no-spray buffers near habitat for threatened and endangered species. A 150-foot no spray buffer near critical habitat has the potential of taking large swaths of cropland out of production. The use of adjuvants can either reduce or eliminate no-spray buffers, thereby mitigating the effects of the buffer.

We are now at a point where we need to populate the database to be integrated into MiST. Getting to this point has not been easy, but thanks to the hard work and expertise of Eileen Bernard of Nutrien and Dr. Connor Ferguson of Simplot – Co-Chairs of the CPDA Adjuvant ESA Solution Working Group – we are ready to begin. 

To that end, I sent a note to our CPDA Adjuvant Stakeholder Community last week asking for company-specific adjuvant data. If you’d like to help keep acres in production, please click on each of these headshots on the right with video links to further explain what the opportunity is for our industry.

After reviewing the ESA Data Submission Instructions to better understand what data is needed and how it will be used, I hope you will consider providing us with this crucial data. Please remember that the provided data will be treated confidentially and will be compiled without company or product references.

If you’d like to submit your data, send the completed information to Johnnie Roberts, CPDA Director of Education, Adjuvant Chemistry who will compile the data for EPA and for Croplife and can answer any questions you have.

A response is requested by Friday, July 21st, 2023.

Thank you in advance for your help!!!!

CPDA to be Represented on PPDC Label Reform Work Group 

I am pleased to report that Albaugh’s Tasha Lott will represent CPDA on the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee’s (PPDC) Label Reform Work Group. Tasha is Albaugh’s Product Registration Manager.

The PPDC is an advisory committee for EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs established to provide feedback to EPA on various pesticide regulatory, policy and program implementation issues. The Label Reform Workgroup was formed during the June 1, 2023, PPDC meeting. 

Thank you Tasha for your service!

AgriBusiness Global^SM Trade Summit

August 9–10, 2023

JW MARRIOTT MIAMI TURNBERRY RESORT & SPA, Aventura, Florida USA

Connect with the Global Market.

Trade Summit is the trusted forum for advancing development in the rapidly emerging global crop protection, ag tech, plant health, and biological sectors.

The 2023 Trade Summit will facilitate global trade by offering educational sessions, a robust exhibit floor, private meeting rooms, and dedicated networking opportunities for the world market to connect, engage and build business. The world’s leading manufacturing companies, export and trading companies, importers, and distributors will be in attendance. 

Until next time...