David Rouzer Asks Farming Expert If Pesticide Bill Is ‘A Good Bill’ For American Farmers

5 months ago

At a House Agriculture Committee hearing before the Congressional recess, Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC) requested an assessment of a pesticide bill he introduced.

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00:00I recognize the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Rausser, for five minutes.

00:04Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:06And as I was sitting here listening to the testimony and some of the questions from my colleagues,

00:14it occurred to me when I was looking for a job, soon to be out of school at NC State University,

00:22I was a chemistry, ag business management, and economic, ag econ major.

00:29That was a different stage in my life when I was far more intelligent than I am now.

00:35And I had a lot of different job offers from ag chemical companies.

00:41I say a lot, certainly, as it relates to the number that are in business now.

00:51What happened there?

00:52Why was there so much, and I think this would just be good for the record,

00:56why has there been so much consolidation?

01:00Is it the regulatory environment?

01:03Has all this been for the betterment of American agriculture to its detriment or a mixed bag?

01:09I just throw that out for anybody who might want to answer or take a stab at it.

01:15I wish I had an answer, because when I started, there was 13 multinationals, and we're down to four, roughly,

01:23and one of which I used to work for, and now is Corteva.

01:27I used to work when it was DuPont Crop Protection.

01:29So, and why the consolidation?

01:32I don't have a good answer.

01:34I'm sure it's somewhere around the regulatory.

01:36I'm sure it's around their boards looking at financials and making hard decisions on whether or not to continue.

01:43So, I know that doesn't answer your question, but anybody else have a thought?

01:49Yeah, I would tie it to what I had said before.

01:52In order for these companies, and even for smaller ones, to come up with a new active ingredient,

01:58outside of what we know now, you know, it's 12 years of development and regulatory approvals going through that process.

02:05So, 12 years is a long time, and it's about $300 million.

02:09That's a lot of money to cover in terms of, you know, what you'd have to sell in revenue.

02:14It's just not worth it for a lot of them.

02:16And so, a lot of them consolidate because, you know, there's a need to do that for their investors,

02:23for the people that have put money into the company.

02:26I think beyond that, looking at then some of the smaller companies like us that have new technologies

02:32and other things going through, same kind of thing.

02:34It's a tough process to get through the regulatory process.

02:38They wait for those to happen and then may work to purchase those at some point,

02:42but it has to be proven at that point.

02:44Yeah, absolutely.

02:46Mr. Witherby, while we're on you, can you speak to the links a company like yours goes through

02:53to demonstrate environmental safety?

02:56Yeah, absolutely.

02:56So, we're held to the same standard everybody else is.

02:59And, you know, part of that is that there's a series of testing.

03:04The rules are what the rules are in terms of chemicals, so we have to prove out that they're

03:08not a skin irritant, that they're not going to harm both the environment or human health.

03:13You go through a series of tests.

03:16The problem is that you can put the data together and provide that in a package,

03:20but it's still going to take you 15 to 19 months for the EPA to then look through that,

03:25or the USDA, or both in our case.

03:27If that happens, then 19 months, two years is a lifetime.

03:31It's a lot of money for us to be able to keep up and going while we're waiting for those

03:36regulatory approvals.

03:38So, that process of kind of aligning the folks there, then having kind of a quicker path to say,

03:45yes, it is, you know, you've met the standard of it is healthy to humans, it's not going to harm humans,

03:50it's safe for the environment, and then allow the testing at the institutions to, you know, to go on.

03:56That's the tough part.

03:57That waiting period is three to four years at times.

04:00That's just a killer for a company that is living off of small dollars.

04:05Yeah, absolutely.

04:07So, just for the record, I've introduced the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act,

04:11the last two Congresses to end EPA or states from requiring permits under the NPDES program

04:17for discharges of registered pesticides if they are used for their intended purposes

04:23and in compliance with their pesticide label requirements.

04:26Do you think that's a good bill or not a good bill?

04:30It's a good bill if we can define what a pesticide is.

04:33And so, right now, that pesticide is being defined as a chemical.

04:36A lot of the folks here are dealing with things that are not just chemicals.

04:40You know, we're dealing with whether it's bacteria or insects or other soil treatments, et cetera.

04:47So, if it's not a chemical, then that applies across the board,

04:50and that's what we're kind of looking for help with.

04:52Yeah.

04:55Well, I've only got 13 seconds left, so I will yield my time.

04:58Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

David Rouzer Asks Farming Expert If Pesticide Bill Is ‘A Good Bill’ For American Farmers

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