ESA in 2025: An Overview from CropLife America
March 31, 2025 As winter gives way to spring, the U.S. agricultural community is busy planning for how the 2025 season will unfold. And according to Josie Montoney-Crawford, Senior Manager, Federal Government Relations at CropLife America, many in our industry are likely to have three words running through their heads — Endangered Species Act (ESA).
“So, ESA,” said Montoney-Crawford, speaking at the Mid America CropLife Association Lunch and Learn Session in February. “It’s what I wake up in the morning thinking about. And when I lay my head down on my pillow at night and can’t fall asleep, it’s because I’m thinking about ESA.”
By now, most people in the ag industry are probably aware of how ESA’s influence over pesticides came into being. For 50 years, the government agency that oversees pesticide registrations, EPA, has used the long-standing Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) as its guide for product registrations and not ESA. According to Montoney-Crawford, these consider different things.
“FIFRA considers economic, social, and environmental impacts, but also the benefits of the product being considered,” she said. “But ESA doesn’t consider benefits, just the product’s impact on endangered species. It’s not as wholistic as FIFRA.”
Over the past 20 years or so, these differences have led to a plethora of lawsuits against crop protection products, eventually leading to what Montoney-Crawford dubbed “a mega lawsuit” that included over 2,400 products. “Ultimately, the courts found that EPA had not met its obligations under ESA and started calling for the cancellation of product registrations,” she said.
According to Montoney-Crawford, this caused the industry to consider an important question. “How are we going to solve this issue in a way that won’t be detrimental to our community?” she said. “What will give us legal certainty, but also protects endangered species?”
The ag industry quickly put together a new idea called the ESA Workplan. Announced in 2022, this sought to gradually introduce changes to the product registrations and labels for herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides over the next few years. “This was what was called a ‘day forward’ approach, not retroactive to products already approved,” said Montoney-Crawford. “It will be applied to new products being brought to market and existing products that are going through their regularly scheduled reviews. That’s when changes will be applied.”
Since its inception, many components of the ESA Workplan have been finalized. The herbicides strategy was released in August 2024. The insecticides plan is set to drop this spring. The fungicides strategy will be finalized by spring 2026.
Best of all, says Montoney-Crawford, this process will be active, not passive. “It’s a strategy, not a document,” she said. “It’s going to be applied label-by-label and changes can be made online at the government’s website Bulletins Live! Two.” This way, the industry doesn’t need to reprint labels for new updates to be applied, she added.
“To be successful, this has to work for growers and the applicator community,” said Montoney-Crawford in conclusion. “Unless it works for those end-users, it won’t work.”
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