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Council of Producers & Distributors of Agrotechnology
Terry Kippley, CPDA
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Washington D.C. Update
I spent last week in Washington DC with our political team of Jay Vroom and Tim Cansler for a series of meetings and dinners on Capitol Hill and with our Agency friends. Our focus was on advancing our Farm Bill priorities to expand adjuvant use “to keep pesticides on the field.” We also discussed a new mission for U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Centers of Excellence which would include an adjuvant component. Finally, we had several great discussions with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and USDA Senior officials about the role adjuvants can play in mitigating Endangered Species Act (ESA) pesticide restrictions, so that farmers can farm instead of spending hours deciphering ESA label mitigations.
The clock is ticking. Congress is making progress on a new Farm Bill, but time is running out. The current bill expires on September 30 and Congress leaves town for its August recess this Friday, so the number of legislative days remaining is dwindling fast. If they cannot get an agreement before September 30, Congress will likely extend the current Farm Bill temporarily until both chambers approve a new bill.
As a side note, Washington DC was a beehive of activity as a number of farm groups were in town and, like us, working on getting a Farm Bill across the finish line. The National Corn Growers Association flew a large contingent of farmers to DC for their annual “Corn Congress.” Jay and I had dinner with staff and leaders at the Illinois Corn Growers Association as well as some of our up-and-coming leaders with Illinois FFA. It was great to reconnect with old friends while meeting new ones.
Here is a recap of our meetings.
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CPDA Strategic Advisor Jay Vroom, House Ag Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson (R-PA), CPDA President Terry Kippley & Jeff Blackwood, BASF | |
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Jay and I were able to spend some quality time with House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson to discuss the role adjuvants play in precision agriculture and in improving conservation practices.
Chairman Thompson is the descendant of a long line of Pennsylvania dairy farmers, so he gets agriculture. He has also previously served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry and Nutrition, so he clearly understood CPDA’s priorities for adjuvants.
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Pictured is Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-VA). She is the Ranking Member of the Conservation, Research and Biotechnology Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee. | |
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Representative Spanberger is a Member of the House Agriculture Committee’s Conservation, Research and Biotechnology Subcommittee. She represents Virginia’s Seventh Congressional District which includes portions of suburban DC with large swaths of farmland south and west of DC, including areas where CPDA members have facilities.
We discussed the role of adjuvants in improving crop protection and conservation outcomes, including advancing IPM and shared with her the Farm Bill language we have developed to help put more focus on adjuvants.
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CPDA Farm Bill Advisor Tim Cansler, CPDA President Terry Kippley, Congressman Frank Lucas (R-OK), CPDA Strategic Advisor Jay Vroom. | |
On Wednesday, we met with Congressman Frank Lucas. He represents Oklahoma’s Third Congressional District, which includes all or portions of thirty-two counties in northern and western Oklahoma. His district is one of the largest agricultural regions in the nation. More importantly, Congressman Lucas is the longest-serving Member on the House Agriculture Committee and served as Chairman of the Committee from 2011 to 2015 crafting the landmark 2014 Farm Bill. Given his background, it was important to hear his perspective and get his support for our CPDA Farm Bill priorities. As a bonus, we also discussed the CPDA member presence in Oklahoma. | |
Staff of the House Committee on Agriculture with jurisdiction over Conservation and Research titles of the Farm Bill. | |
While our elected representatives, like Chairman Thompson and Representative Spanberger, make the final decisions, a lot of the pick and shovel work on Capitol Hill is left to Congressional staffers. To that end, Tim, Jay, and I spent a productive hour with the Chairman’s farm bill staff team to share CPDA’s ideas on adjuvants’ role in conservation practices. We also highlighted the need to re-energize USDA’s Centers of Excellence to include a focus on pesticide application excellence and accuracy with adjuvants playing a critical role. | |
CPDA's Strategic Advisor Jay Vroom explains the role adjuvants play in precision agriculture. | |
On Monday, Jay and Tim attended a Pesticide Policy Coalition briefing for the House Agriculture Committee Legislative Assistants where Jay brought home the importance of adjuvants and their role in precision agriculture and as an ESA mitigation tool. The PPC is made up of a wide group of farm organizations, so it’s great that CPDA and adjuvants has their support and endorsement. | |
Pictured is Director of EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs Ed Messina, Deputy Director of Programs Mike Goodis & CPDA President Terry Kippley. | |
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We had two great meetings with EPA leadership where we were able to discuss the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA) and the role adjuvants can play in reducing the potential effects from the use of pesticides near federally listed endangered and threatened species so that farmers can farm.
Our first meeting was with Ed Messina and Mike Goodis. Ed is the Director of the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP). Mike is the Deputy Director. We have worked very hard over the past 18 months to establish and maintain a professional and productive relationship with Ed and his team. Those efforts are paying off as more of OPP’s focus is devoted to addressing and clearing the non-PRIA backlog. More work needs to be done, but it is a positive step that we have been able to engage key EPA leaders like Ed and Mike, both of whom are career civil servants and employees.
Our second meeting was with Jake Li and Rod Snyder. Jake is the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pesticide Programs for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention while Rod is EPA’s Agriculture Advisor. Both are Biden Administration political appointees. Our meeting was especially timely as EPA released on Monday its draft Herbicide Strategy for listed species. The Strategy describes proposed mitigations for more than 900 listed species and designated critical habitats to reduce potential impacts from agricultural herbicide use while helping to ensure the continued availability of these important tools. We made the case that adjuvants should be a central part of this strategy and we are anxious to submit our comments to EPA on the proposed strategy.
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CPDA President Terry Kippley, Director of USDA OPMP Kimberly Nesci, OPMP scientists Elyssa Arnold and Cameron Douglass and CPDA Farm Bill Advisor Tim Cansler. | |
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On Friday, we met with Kimberly Nesci, Director of USDA’s Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP). Joining us virtually were OPMP scientists Alyssa Arnold and Cameron Douglass, who are both career employees. OPMP serves as the USDA lead regarding pesticide regulation and policy, so it was important that we continue to interact with Kimberly and her team.
We shared with them our adjuvant “white papers” as well as some of the raw data we are capturing from University of Nebraska-Lincoln wind tunnel studies. Our message and CPDA member data are starting to resonate as we are clearly demonstrating that adjuvants “keep pesticides on the field.” Hopefully, this data will reduce or eliminate the no-spray buffer zones near listed species habitat.
On the heels of our busy week, Scott Rawlins and I fly to Sacramento next week for the Western Plant Health Regulatory Conference where we hope to see many of you.
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CPDA member, CJB Applied Technologies, has received a crop tolerance exemption for benzyl alcohol use in crop protection products. Their plan is to widely license this tool and patented position to provide their customers and cooperators with an exciting new tool to enhance product performance. The link to the full announcement here. | |
AgriBusiness GlobalSM 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.
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Register before August 21st to get a discounted room rate! | | | | |
