The Endangered Species Act is “one of the most difficult pesticide issues” farmers have faced on the federal level and they need to be aware of what could happen on their operations as a result of it.
Mary Kay Thatcher, Syngenta Senior Manager, Federal Government and Industry Relations, led a panel discussion on the ESA at Commodity Classic last week to discuss what it means for your operation and how you can make sure pesticide measures minimize the impact on production while protecting the environment.
Thatcher says essentially EPA has ignored the ESA for the past decade or so and now is increasingly working to better understand what pesticide and field measures might be needed to protect endangered species from potential pesticide exposure. “So they are very much trying to figure out if there is a way to mitigate some of the problems with the Endangered Species Act by making farmers do more conservation mitigation practices,” said Thatcher.
The comment period is over but Thatcher says EPA still wants to hear from farmers and other stakeholders. Joining Thatcher on the panel were Jake Li, EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator; Stanley Culpepper, farmer and UGA Professor of Weed Science; Tony Burd, Senior Regulatory Stewardship Manager, Syngenta; and Ohio family farmer Patty Mann.
Listen to the panel and a summary interview with Thatcher below:
Classic 23 - Endangered Species Act panel (46:23)