Council of Producers & Distributors of Agrotechnology

Terry Kippley, CPDA

October 2, 2024

In this Issue:

• NASDA Annual Meeting
• ESA News
• CPDA Meets with Congressman Dan Newhouse
• Port Strike
• State Associations Meeting
• 2025 Washington DC Fly-In
• CPDA-PAC Update

September was a busy and productive month with a series of high-profile meetings sandwiched around our 2024 Annual Meeting. Here’s all the latest.

National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) Annual Meeting

Last week, CPDA Strategic Advisors Jay Vroom and Andrew Walmsley and I attended the NASDA annual meeting in Indianapolis. With a CPDA background paper in hand, which explains our policy positions, we made the rounds with the following state officials:

1. Chris Chinn, Director, Missouri Department of Agriculture and Chair of NASDA’s Plant Agriculture Committee;
2. Michael Scuse, Delaware Secretary of Agriculture;
3. Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture;
4. Joe Guthrie, Commissioner, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services;
5. Don Lamb, Director, Indiana Department of Agriculture;
6. Shawn Jasper, Commissioner, New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food;
7. Chris Jones, Senior Director, NASDA Foundation;
8. Edward Wengryn, Secretary, New Jersey Department of Agriculture;
9. Rick Pate, Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries and Rebecca Barnett, Deputy Commissioner;
10. Brian Perry, Chief of Staff to Andy Gipson, Commissioner, Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce;
11. Tyler Harper, Commissioner, Georgia Department of Agriculture;
12. Jeff Aiken, Deputy Commissioner, Tennessee Department of Agriculture;
13. Steve Connelly, Deputy Secretary, Maryland Department of Agriculture;
14. Darrin Youker, Policy Director, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture;
15. Hilary Maricle, Deputy Director, Nebraska Department of Agriculture; and
16. Elizabeth Wolters, Deputy Commissioner, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

We also had side meetings with the National Ag Law Center staff from the University of Arkansas and Dr. Stanley Culpepper from the University of Georgia.

Andrew Walmsley, Terry Kippley, CPDA; Ted McKinney, CEO, NASDA; Dwyane Young, Helena.

Jay Vroom, CPDA; Don Lamb, Indiana Secretary of Agriculture

Jay Vroom, CPDA; Dr. John Goldberg, NASDA consultant. 

Jay Vroom, CPDA; Steve Isley, Former USDA Foreign Agricultural Service Administrator, Partner, Barnes & Thornburg; Ted McKinney, NASDA CEO.

Endangered Species Act (ESA) News

Drift Reduction Adjuvants (DRAs) and Their Role in Mitigating ESA Pesticide Use Restrictions

On September 11, we met with Elyssa Arnold, Regulatory Risk Assessor in USDA’s Office of Pest Management Policy to discuss ways for USDA to work with EPA to expand the number of ESA mitigation options available to growers while highlighting the benefits of DRAs. 



Andrew and I also met with Felipe Afanador Beltran and Venus Welch-White with EPA’s Office of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to make the case that DRAs will be the easiest and most cost-effective option for growers to both protect listed species and to reduce no-spray buffers.

Terry Kippley, CPDA; Felipe Afanador Beltran and Venus Welch-White, EPA; Andrew Walmsley, CPDA.

Incentivizing the Use of DRAs in Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Programs

We have been working with NRCS staff to increase the mitigation values for adjuvants in the NRCS Code 595 Practice Standards. This would provide growers who use adjuvants in their conservation plans a higher “green payment.”



In August, NRCS disappointedly rejected our request to increase these values. So, it’s back to work to reverse their initial decision. To that end, Andrew and I had a great visit with Greg Jaffe, Special Assistant to USDA Secretary Vilsack. We also met with Kimberly Nesci, Director, Office of Pest Management Policy at USDA, to discuss our concerns. We are also contacting NRCS Chief Terry Cosby to press our case.   

Terry Kippley, CPDA; Greg Jaffe, USDA; Andrew Walmsley, CPDA.

CPDA Files Comments on EPA’s Draft insecticide Strategy

On September 23, CPDA filed comments with EPA in response to their proposed Insecticide Strategy. Our comments highlighted the work over the last 18 months that CPDA member companies have been doing with the staff at the Office of Pesticide Programs’ Environmental Fate and Effects Division (EFED) to evaluate and analyze the effectiveness of DRAs as an ESA mitigation option. Read full comments.

We also pressed EPA to include other types of DRAs to the other ESA Strategies, such as polymer (polyacrylamide, guar gum, xanthan gum, etc.) based DRAs for ground applications. We asked that polymers be evaluated based on the merits of the data, both already submitted by CPDA, as well as data just submitted to EFED. 



EPA Finalizes Plan to Protect Vulnerable Species

EPA has completed the Vulnerable Species Pilot (VSP) that it initiated in June 2023 and has transitioned to the Vulnerable Species Action Plan (VSAP). The VSAP provides a framework for EPA to adopt early, meaningful protections to address potential population-level impacts for federally threatened and endangered (listed) species that EPA identifies as “vulnerable” to pesticides. A primary goal of the action plan is to further the conservation and recovery of listed species by helping alleviate the stressor of pesticide exposure and potential resultant impacts to listed species. It applies to nonresidential outdoor uses of conventional pesticides within the contiguous United States (CONUS) and may include agricultural and non-agricultural uses.

ESA Restrictions for Chlorpyrifos

Yesterday, EPA announced new restrictions for chlorpyrifos intended to protect listed species under ESA. The measures include new product labels containing additional protections and Endangered Species Protection Bulletins that set geographically specific limitations on pesticide use.

In a Press Release, EPA said, “Collectively, these measures will not only protect listed species but also reduce exposure to non-listed species."

The chlorpyrifos mitigations include restrictions on when to apply, restrictions on tank mixing, and use limitations related to both runoff and drift, as well as wind speed restrictions.  

CPDA Meets with Congressman Dan Newhouse

Andrew and Jay also had the opportunity to visit with Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), who is facing a tough reelection battle. CPDA has supported Congressman Newhouse with our CPDA-PAC. 

Jay Vroom, CPDA; Congressman Dan Newhouse, Andrew Walmsley, CPDA.

Port Strike

This week, 45,000 workers represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), went on strike seeking to negotiate a new Master Contract with East and Gulf Coast port facilities. The dispute centers on wages, benefits, and automation technology at Gulf Coast ports.

Agriculture has a lot at stake here as Gulf ports are key shipping points for both imports and exports of commodities and supply chain essentials. The details:

• The total value of containerized agricultural products passing through ILA-controlled ports, including both imports and exports, exceeds $1.4 billion per week.  
• Approximately 14% of all U.S. waterborne agricultural exports, by volume, are at risk.  About 46% of containerized agricultural exports (16.6 million metric tons) depart from East Coast ports.  
• Nearly 80% of waterborne poultry exports are jeopardized, potentially lowering prices for poultry producers.  
• Port congestion. Nine major East Coast ports account for nearly 94% of all East Coast containerized agricultural exports, with Norfolk and Savannah being the top two.  
• Rerouting shipments to unaffected West Coast ports could lead to congestion and increased freight costs.   
• 72% (30 million metric tons) of containerized agricultural imports are handled by East Coast ports.   
• 53% of U.S. waterborne agricultural imports, by volume, could be affected by an ILA strike. Besides poultry, the strike would disrupt exports of hay, cotton, red meat, vegetables, dairy products, and edible nuts.   
• Soybeans and other feed ingredients for livestock operations would also be affected.

State Associations Meeting

At the invitation of CPDA member Tim Tackes, KALO, it was my pleasure to present an overview of CPDA priorities along with CLA/RISE/TFI to his group made up of the executives and members from state agribusiness associations. Thank you to Chris Averill, Executive Director of Montana Agribusiness Association, Andy Licht, president of Nebraska Agribusiness association, and Kevin “KJ” Johnson, president of the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association for the opportunity.

We are stronger together.

Mark Your Calendars! Dates for the 2025 Washington DC Fly-In are Set

The dates for the 2025 CPDA Washington DC Fly-In are February 24-26 at the Arlington Westin in Arlington, Virginia. Once again, we will be partnering and collaborating with our good friends at the Agricultural Retailers Association for part of our agenda. Make plans now to attend as we kickoff 2025 with a new President and Congress in place.

CPDA Political Action Committee (PAC) Update

We held a CPDA-PAC fundraiser in conjunction with CPDA’s Annual Meeting in San Diego. Attendees enjoyed a beautiful poolside reception where nearly $25,000 in contributions were raised. 

Thank you to everyone who supported our PAC!

Until next time...