USDA has confirmed its plans to eliminate its crop protection product use survey, according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Web site.
The program has provided a key source of US pesticide use information since 1990, where it has served consumers, scientists, and other government agencies — including EPA in its assessments of certain regulations and pesticide risks.
Joe Reilly, an acting administrator at the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), said the program was cut because USDA could no longer afford to spend the US $8 million the survey used out of its $160 million annual budget.
Pesticide companies also rely on the program when they look to re-register ag chemicals, said Beth Carroll, a senior stewardship manager with Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. in the article.
