The Battle Hymn of the Ag Republic: It’s Time for the Crop Protection Industry to Sing the Same Song
October 4, 2022 Whenever someone within our industry talks about the need to fight against restrictive legislation, observers will say that individual is “preaching to the choir.” Yet, as any good choir director will tell you, such a group only works in harmony when they can use a common hymnal as their guide.
Unfortunately, according to many market watchers, “singing from the same hymnal” is not something the agricultural community can currently claim to be doing.
A few months back, I wrote a column looking at how it seemed as if restrictive legislation targeting agriculture were becoming more commonplace. At the time, I cited ongoing efforts by special interest groups to ban dicamba and chlorpyrifos. As I write this column, another long-standing active ingredient, atrazine, is now in the crosshairs. This summer, EPA announced some revisions to the registration for atrazine. This new label, say trade associations, will “impose arduous new restrictions and mitigation measures on the product, limiting how much grower-customers can use in their fields,” wrote National Corn Growers Association President Chris Edgington in a press release.
Kevin “K.J.” Johnson, President of the Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association, pointed out that these kinds of restrictions for long-time crop protection products are likely to continue. “Pesticide legislation is getting more frequent every day,” said Johnson on a recent PACE Executive Forum webinar. “There’s been a proposed dicamba ban, a proposed glyphosate ban, a proposed neonic ban. Environmental groups are getting smarter, throwing so much stuff out there. [They are] just waiting for someone to fall asleep on it.”
Jeff Bunting, Crop Protection Division Manager for GROWMARK, recently made a similar observation. “As I talk with my peers, the number of regulations being proposed are just out there,” said Bunting, speaking at the 2022 Mid America CropLife Association meeting this past September. “We have got to speak up!”
But according to Jim Fargo, President of Integrated Agribusiness Professionals, speaking up individually won’t have much of an impact in this kind of anti-agricultural regulatory climate. “I don’t know we are one voice in agriculture,” said Fargo on a recent PACE Executive Forum webinar. “Whether you are talking about crop protection products, fertilizer, or whatever, we are not all sending the same message. Until we can get everybody singing from the same hymnal, we’re got a struggle on our hands there.”
“I think the message needs to come from Washington,” he said. “The Agricultural Retailers Association does this kind of work every day for us.”
Since everyone in agriculture is aware of the challenges we are now facing, writing such a hymnal may take some time, but it will well be worth the effort “be able to all sing from it” in the end!
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