Article excerpts:

“A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plan to protect endangered species from the effects of weedkillers could require farms near vulnerable habitats to take additional conservational steps.

The EPA last week revealed its finalized strategy to safeguard over 900 federally endangered and threatened species from herbicides, a result of nearly two dozen lawsuits against the agency over its failure to meet Endangered Species Act obligations when approving pesticides. The new framework will be used to help determine which on-the-ground conservation measures farmers should take — and when — in order to offset any herbicide impacts…”

“…Farm groups have remained wary of the plan, saying it creates a confusing patchwork of rules that will likely raise costs for producers. Josh Gackle, president of the American Soybean Association, said the EPA’s plan “is likely to cost U.S. farmers billions of dollars to implement and could result in significant new hurdles to farmers accessing and using herbicides in the future.”

Link to article: https://www.agriculturedive.com/news/epa-herbicide-strategy-endangered-species/725258/