CPDA Supports Chairman Thompson: CPDA News & Notes March 20, 2025

Council of Producers & Distributors of Agrotechnology

Terry Kippley, CPDA

March 20, 2025

Fly-In Follow-up: Hear from Chairman Boozman

What an honor it was for Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman to join us for our 2025 CPDA Fly-In. Hear from him below about the importance of working together to move our industry forward.

CPDA Co-Hosts Fundraiser for House Agriculture Committee Chairman Thompson

On March 11, CPDA joined CropLife America, The Fertilizer Institute, and the Agricultural Retailers Association as a co-host lunch fundraiser for House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson (R-PA) This was a great opportunity to get an up-to-the-minute update from Chairman Thompson as both House and Senate Agriculture committees look to pass a Farm Bill this year.

Terry Kippley, CPDA; Alex Dunn, CropLife America; Chairman GT Thompson; Corey Rosenbusch, The Fertilizer Institute; Richard Gupton, Agricultural Retailers Association.

CPDA Meets with EPA Political Leadership

On Friday, March 7, as part of the PRIA Coalition, CPDA Regulatory Consultant Dr. Ray McAllister and I met with EPA Senior Leaders Dr. Nancy Beck, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator and Dr. Lynn Dekleva, Deputy Assistant Administrator.

This is the PRIA Coalition’s first meeting with Senior Trump Administration officials designed to discuss continued engagement opportunities with the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP).

It was also an opportunity to hear Dr. Beck and Dr. Dekleva’s OPP priorities and share the ongoing work of the PRIA coalition with them. The following topics were on the docket for our discussion:

Reducing the OPP workload;
Decrease processing times for PRIA and non-PRIA submissions to meet statutory deadlines and to provide predictability;
Continue the work to revise to PR Notice 98-10 and 98-1. Streamline and optimize the Confidential Statement of Formula process;
Make the label review process more efficient by using standardized labels; and
Limit the review of label notification submissions to only the item being submitted and not a full label review.

Agri-Pulse Ag & Food Policy Summit

On Monday, Andrew Walmsley, CPDA’s Vice President of Government Affairs and I attended Agri-Pulse’s Ag & Food Policy Summit held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The theme of this year’s summit was “Navigating Taxes, Trade and Technology: What’s Ahead for Food and Agriculture.”

As usual, Sara Wyant and her Team at Agri-Pulse did an incredible job of tapping into all of the hot button issues affecting agriculture. This was also a great opportunity to rub elbows with the who’s who of ag policy.

The Agri-Pulse Summit closely follows the theme of the CPDA 2025 Adjuvant, Inert and Crop Protection (AICP) Conference where we will do a deep dive on tariffs, trade and Endangered Species Act pesticide restrictions. Sara Wyant will keynote our event with an overview of President Trump’s first 100 days in office and its effect on production agriculture.

Please see the note at the end of this newsletter for registration information for the CPDA AICP.

Terry Kippley, CPDA; Cameron Bishop, Simplot; Sara Wyant, Agri-Pulse; Connor Hamburg, Nutrien; Dorothy Clark, Land O’Lakes; Andrew Walmsley, CPDA.

Congressman Timmons Visits CPDA Member Ethox

Brad Swillen, the Immediate Past Chair of CPDA’s Board, hosted Congressman William Timmons (R-SC) as a follow-up to the DC Fly-In at the Ethox Chemical Headquarters in Greenville, South Carolina.

Following a facility tour, the Ethox Senior Leadership Team had a robust Q&A session with Congressman Timmons on President Trump’s America First Agenda.

Phil Howard, President; Rick Wilson, CEO; Congressman Timmons, Brad Swillen, Business Director; Chris Welch, VP Sales.

Make America Healthy Again Letter

On March 10, CPDA joined more than three hundred organizations on a letter sent to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin.

In February, President Trump signed an Executive Order establishing the President’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, which will be chaired by Secretary Kennedy and supported by Secretary Rollins and Administrator Zeldin. The Commission “is tasked with investigating and addressing the root causes of America’s escalating health crisis, with an initial focus on childhood chronic diseases.”

It also discusses the importance of retaining quality data standards to prevent misleading or outlier studies from reducing access to needed products. The signers expressed openness to working with the MAHA Commission on the shared goal of improving health outcomes for all Americans.

The coalition letter called for sound science and data to be used by the MAHA Commission in upcoming evaluations for products essential to food and agriculture. The letter specifically focuses on the importance of pesticides, biotechnology, and food and feed ingredients for farmers and consumers while highlighting the ways in which these products are already robustly regulated to ensure their safe use.

Pesticides are called out by the signatories as being essential to protect crops and ensure U.S. consumers can continue to access a safe, abundant, and affordable food supply. If access to any of these products is undermined, it could result in higher food costs for consumers or a greater reliance on imports that may be less safe.

NASDA Adopts CPDA-Led Policy

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), which represents the departments of agriculture in all fifty states and four U.S. territories, recently adopted CPDA supported policy to help growers comply with upcoming ESA pesticide obligations. NASDA is a key CPDA partner at both the federal and state level.

CPDA in the News

Recently, CropLife^® visited several of the leading agriculture associations to discuss the top issues on the agenda for 2025. While individual strategies and goals were unique, the messaging from association leadership was undeniably focused on one aspect: Collaboration.

Thank you to Lara Sowinski and CropLife for recognizing that collaboration is the new currency.

Read the full article

CPDA Adjuvant Certification Committee

A kick-off meeting was held in early March to officially kick-off the reestablishment of the CPDA Adjuvant Certification Committee. The committee's objective is to reassess the original goals of the program, which include ensuring product stewardship through Truth in Labeling and promoting self-regulation to protect our freedom to operate at both the state and federal levels within our $1 billion grower-level market.

Additionally, the committee will explore ways to "Reengage with the Basics," emphasizing the inclusion of “Use CPDA Certified Adjuvants” on product labels. Currently, over 1,320 adjuvants are registered for Enlist One. Five years ago, estimates suggested there were 2,500 commercial products. At present, thirty-six companies have registered 240 products—representing just under 20% of Enlist One products and about 10% of the total market.

During the meeting, the committee elected John Blackford of Wilbur-Ellis to serve as the Committee Chair. There is significant work ahead, and your involvement is encouraged. If you or a team member would like to participate, please contact John Blackford at john.blackford@wilburellis.com.

May 5–7, 2025

Cape Coral, Florida

Don't Miss:

Hear what Chinese active ingredient manufactures are planning to do in response to new tariffs and how these tariffs will impact procurement decisions next season.
Learn how growers are planning to address the storm and how best to incorporate legislative disruption into your business plans in the Grower Issues Executive Leadership Panel moderated by Agri-Pulse's founder Sara Wyant.
The commercial impact of President Trump’s tariffs.
The latest on what the industry can expect from Endangered Species Act pesticide restrictions, moderated by CropLife Magazine’s Lara Sowinski.
A legislative panel moderated by CPDA’s Andrew Walmsley with a focus on Farm Bill and what we’ve learned following President Trump’s first 100 days in office.
The ever-popular CPDA Adjuvant University and More covering advances in biologicals and drones.

Connect with over 250 attendees from 100 companies in the adjuvants, inerts and crop protection manufacturing and distribution space to understand how 2025 is shaping up.

Until next time...

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