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EPA releases final version of its Insecticide Strategy

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), working to comply with a court order to find a more efficient way to meet its obligations for pesticide registration under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), released the final document of its Insecticide Strategy on April 29.

The strategy is part of the EPA’s attempt to better meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it acts on the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

According to the National Agricultural Law Center (NALC), the final version is similar to a draft the agency released in Summer 2024, as well as the final Herbicide Strategy released in September 2024. The American Farm Bureau Federation anticipates the EPA will release strategies for fungicide and rodenticides.

“It could impact farmers and ranchers as chemistries are being reviewed by EPA,” said AFBF Director of Government Affairs John Walt Boatright during a May 1 episode of AFBF Newsline. “They will pull from this strategy, this document, to potentially apply new mitigation measures to pesticide applications based on their chemistry. The good news is that we won't see these new requirements immediately.”

The final Insecticide Strategy includes some key updates, including additional practices farmers can use to reduce pesticide spray drift and runoff. The document indicates that the EPA is working to identify USDA conservation programs farmers can participate in to meet the strategy’s requirements.

The EPA is developing a certification program for third-party individuals who can advise farmers on how to achieve compliance with both the herbicide and insecticide strategies.

The full Insecticide Strategy is available here. More information on the final Herbicide Strategy can be found here. The two strategies will only be used when new pesticide products come to EPA for approval or when existing products come up for registration review. This year, only a handful of pesticide labels are expected to be amended by the final Herbicide Strategy, according to Boatright.

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