New Sen. Marshall Bill Aims to Maintain Availability of Vital Crop Protection Tools

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D., introduced the EPA Transparency for Agriculture Products Act, a comprehensive bill to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from overregulating essential pesticides that the ag industry heavily depends upon. Specifically, this bill would take steps to ensure transparency and accountability within the EPA's rulemaking process for pesticides.

"At a time when Kansas' farmers and ranchers are coping with record inflation and broken supply chains, the last thing they need is the EPA revoking or severely limiting traditional farming tools and methods," said Senator Marshall, "Access to safe, effective pesticides is vital for allowing farmers to continue to efficiently and sustainably feed, clothe, and fuel the world."

"It's simple, farmers need critical crop protection tools like glyphosate to feed the world. Farmers use it on 40% of all acres in the US and it enables more than $50 billion dollars of production annually. We appreciate this bill that will provide farmers with continued access to these and other crop protection tools prospectively," said Teresa Brandenburg, Kansas Soybean Association President.

"Sorghum production was born from no-till farming in Kansas. For farmers to effectively use no-till practices they MUST have access to pesticides to control weeds, including Atrazine. Unfortunately, we've seen from this EPA a reluctance to recognize the importance of pesticides to no-till farming. Thank you, Senator Marshall, for introducing measures that direct EPA to ensure we can still access crop protection tools," said Jesse McCurry, Kansas Grain Sorghum Executive Director.

"EPA is using regulatory tricks to drastically limit farmers use of critical inputs like Atrazine. A recent proposal would restrict its use on corn in almost all of Kansas leaving no cost-effective way to control herbicide resistance. EPA should refocus its attention on sound science and transparency is key to that," said Greg Krissek, Kansas Corn Growers Association CEO.

"The U.S. cotton industry has worked with EPA over the years to educate the agency on the importance of maintaining workable labels for crop protection tools. We look forward to working with Senator Marshall and EPA to ensure that the needs of cotton farmers are met in the pesticide registration process." said Ted Schneider, National Cotton Council Chairman and producer from Louisiana.

"Thank you, Senator Marshall for standing at the forefront in defense of our nation's farmers who depend on these indispensable crop protection products allowing them to reliably feed, fuel and clothe the world," said Ron C. Seeber, Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association President and Kansas Grain and Feed Association CEO.

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