Council of Producers & Distributors of Agrotechnology

Terry Kippley, CPDA

June 30, 2023

Freedom is Priceless

As we approach the 4th of July, we are reminded of the importance of food security. In early May this year, Brett Sciotto, CEO at Aimpoint Research spoke at the CPDA AICP conference in Louisville, KY about "American Food Power." Brett spoke of advocating for a more comprehensive and proactive strategy to protecting American agriculture. Because food security is national security.

CPDA Sends Letter to the House & Senate Ag Committees

On June 15, I sent a letter to Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, Ranking Member John Boozman and to House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson and Ranking Member David Scott asking them to include Senate Bill 1400 and House Resolution 3036, the “Increased Technical Service Provider (TSP) Access Act of 2023” into the Farm Bill.

Given the nationwide shortage of TSPs, the legislation would direct USDA to establish a process to approve non-Federal certifying entities, including agricultural retailers and cooperatives. This would allow CPDA member companies who employ professional agronomists to assist USDA by providing their farmer customers with much-needed direct & certified technical know-how to plan, design, install, and certify conservation practices.

I also asked the Agriculture Committees to support two additional provisions:

1. To include spray adjuvants in USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Code 595 Conservation Practice Standards to provide incentives to farmers for their use; and
2. Restart adjuvant research programs at Land Grant Universities through the establishment of “Centers of Application Excellence.”

Left to Right: John Walt Boatright and Joby Young, American Farm Bureau Federation participate in a hybrid meeting with CPDA seeking their support for adjuvants in the Farm Bill.

Farm Bill Update

To follow up on my letter to the Ag Committee’s Leaders, CPDA’s Capitol Hill team of Jay Vroom and Tim Cansler made the rounds in DC this week. I had hoped to join them in-person, but the East Coast air travel snafu kept me home. Still, I was able to join most of our meetings virtually.

Carlton Bridgeforth – USDA

On Tuesday, we had a great meeting with Carlton Bridgforth at USDA. Carlton is that rare DC person, that is, someone with a farm background and a firm understanding of the issues facing agriculture.

Currently, Carlton is serving as a Senior Advisor for Research, Education, and Economics. Before that, Carlton worked for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture as an advisor to Chairman David Scott (D-GA), and staff on wide range of issues.

We discussed the benefits of expanded adjuvant use and our proposal to use financial incentives to encourage farmers to include adjuvants as part of their conservation efforts. Carlton was supportive of our ideas, and we pledged to continue our dialogue as the farm bill advances through Congress.

Ted McKinney – The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA)

On Wednesday, Jay and Tim had lunch with Ted McKinney. Ted is the Chief Executive Officer of NASDA and serves as the key person in amplifying the voice of state departments of agriculture in Washington, D.C.

Ted is no stranger to our industry, having worked for 19 years for Dow AgroSciences (now Corteva Agriscience) and 14 years at Elanco Animal Health. Ted grew up on a family farm in Tipton, Indiana.

Given his background, Ted is very familiar with the benefits of expanded adjuvant use and was supportive to hear that we were pursuing farm bill provisions to that end. We will need NASDA’s support and, more importantly, the support of State Departments of Agriculture, who would likely serve as the agency for certifying TSPs.



Joby Young & John Walt Boatright – The American Farm Bureau Federation

Earlier today, Jay and Tim (Scott Rawlins and I joined virtually) met with Joby Young and John Walt Boatright of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Joby is AFBF’s Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff. John is their point person for pesticide issues.

Making this connection is an important step for CPDA as most of the Aggies on Capitol Hill have the same question: “Is Farm Bureau supportive?” If the answer is ‘yes,’ we’re good to go. If the answer is ‘no,’ we have work to do. After our discussion about our adjuvant proposals, both Joby and John appreciated CPDA’s efforts to bring this to our attention while acknowledging the benefits of expanding adjuvant use, particularly for Endangered Species Act mitigation measures.

Protect America's Children from Toxic Pesticides Act Introduced in the House

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) is about to introduce the House version of “Protect America’s Children from Toxic Pesticides Act.” This is the companion bill to legislation introduced earlier this year by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ).

If enacted, the bill would ban organophosphate insecticides, neonicotinoid insecticides, and paraquat. In addition, the bill would:

• Create a process to enable individual citizens to petition the EPA to identify and remove pesticides; 
• Restrict the authority of EPA to issue emergency exemptions and conditional registrations; 
• Enable local governments to enact pesticide legislation and other policies without being preempted by state or federal law; and
• Suspend the use of pesticides deemed unsafe by the European Union or Canada until they are thoroughly reviewed by EPA. 

Low-Risk Polymers & Microplastics: Trouble Ahead?

This week, key CPDA member experts and advisors met to discuss emerging regulatory issues affecting microplastics, low-risk polymers, and inert ingredients in food-use pesticides.

Current EPA regulations under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) define low-risk polymers as those which do not biodegrade substantially and exempts them from the need to file pre-manufacturing notices (PMNs) under TSCA. FIFRA regulations cite these TSCA regulations in establishing a streamlined pathway with a low data burden to approve low-risk polymers for use as inert ingredients in pesticide formulations and establish tolerance exemptions for food uses. These regulations support a transparent approval process that fosters innovation in the low-risk polymer market and allows EPA to focus resources on more significant risks.

However, low-risk polymers have been caught up in the controversy over microplastic contamination in the environment. More recently, Europe has taken a regulatory approach that favors low-risk polymers that do biodegrade quickly in the environment for industrial uses, including pesticide formulations. A fundamental conflict emerges between the two regions on this regulatory issue. Pesticide products formulated with low-risk polymers for the U.S. market might not meet European regulatory requirements, and vice versa.

The European move on low-risk polymers has not escaped notice at EPA. Shifting to biodegradable low-risk polymers in U.S. formulations, with the need to demonstrate the safety of a metabolic profile for food uses, could substantially increase the development and regulatory costs for pesticide formulation, stifling innovation.

The CPDA leadership is continuing to brainstorm potential solutions to this conundrum and formulate regulatory proposals that can maintain a low regulatory burden, assure product safety, and still encourage innovation. We will meet again in mid-July to continue the conversation. For more information, please contact me or Ray McAllister at rsm6consulting@gmail.com.

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...