Last week the EPA met with members of the agriculture industry to discuss the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and its impact on the environment.

The EPA is responsible for regulating the distribution, sale and use of pesticides under FIFRA. The organization will not allow the distribution or sale of a pesticide until it verifies that its use does not cause “unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.”

American Soybean Association (ASA) CEO Steve Censky, who attended the meeting, said the farmer groups emphasized a desire to engage with EPA in a constructive way. He added they also underscored the need for agency decisions to fully reflect FIFRA requirements, that decisions consider both benefits to growers and risks, that farmer groups and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) want to be fully consulted in the decision process and that EPA decisions affect the livelihoods of farmers – their competitiveness, ability to control pests and weeks, and ability to produce food for a growing world.

EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy, specifically stressed the agency’s wish to maintain a constructive conservations with the agriculture industry and stated her understanding of the farmer’s need for pest and weed control.