During a House Agricultural Committee hearing before the Congressional recess, Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA) asked CPDA Chairman, Terry Abbott, about developments in agriculture technology.
00:00I'll recognize the gentleman from Iowa, Mr. Feenstra, for five minutes.
00:05Thank you, Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Craig.
00:08Thank you for the witnesses for coming today.
00:11I am in the second largest ag district in the country, probably number one in corn and soybeans.
00:17And, you know, when we look at feeding the world, we need to create some of the safest and most affordable food, fuel, and fiber that we can do that.
00:26And we are currently doing that.
00:27And I'm very grateful for all that you have noted.
00:32These tools go through robust science and risk-based regulatory processes and ensure safety for human health and for our families and for people around the world.
00:44And I'd like to just talk a little bit about this, of how we can get to the next level, right?
00:48We know from the past what we've used.
00:50But now when we start looking at FIFRA, a science-based process to regulate distribution sale and the use of pesticides to ensure human and environmental safety.
01:00And then you have PREA, who establishes a fee-based system to support timely review of pesticide registration.
01:06So these are two significant tools that we use to review and create science-based, safe production of product.
01:15So my question is this.
01:18We saw pesticide registrations fall more than 70% over the last several years.
01:24And, by the way, I talked to Administrator Zeldin from the EPA, and he is very well aware.
01:28And he said, Randy, we've got to do something about this.
01:30This is ridiculous that we're far behind.
01:33I mean, these are great tools that are on the forefront, but they're not out there yet.
01:38So I want to talk to Mr. Abbott first.
01:41What are your thoughts on this?
01:42How does this affect the current farming community when it comes to crop protection tools and safety and how we can look forward?
01:51Well, as I've already previously mentioned, they pay for it, right?
01:55And they are looking for tools.
01:58To manage resistance, they need to rotate, right?
02:01I'll use fungicides.
02:03If you continue to use the same fungicide over and over, you're going to develop a resistance at some point.
02:09So in order to avoid that, you need to rotate, and that's where the different tools come into play.
02:14Right.
02:14So there's new cutting-edge tools that are on the forefront.
02:19I mean, you start looking at that, what that means.
02:22You know, less product going in the air, in the water, and all this stuff.
02:29Can you elaborate on that a little bit of what's out there?
02:31Well, and I'll go from the adjuvant side of the thing, right?
02:35What you're adding to the tank, besides the pesticide, the active ingredient, how do you make it work most effectively?
02:42And that's managing drift.
02:43That's also making it more effective, getting into either the plant tissue or the insect, soft-bodied, whatever it is.
02:52It's influencing that tank mix to a positive effect, right?
02:57You want to make sure, we talked about dead weeds, right?
03:01You don't want to have to respray.
03:03That's where you get more chemicals on there.
03:05So it's about managing that.
03:07Don, you want to expand on that at all?
03:09Well, you know, our toolbox is limited.
03:19We've had fewer products to use that are effective.
03:22And as we said, it creates resistance issues.
03:25We need to rotate chemistry.
03:27I feel that we have great products in the wings, ready to go, and we don't have access to them.
03:34I agree.
03:35I agree.
03:35It's frustrating.
03:36We need to get them out.
03:37Yep.
03:38Now I want to talk about maximum residue levels.
03:41This has always been a top issue when we start thinking about health and safety and the global supply chains.
03:48You know, when we start looking at international trade, they always talk about maximum residual levels and where it's at and where it needs to be.
03:55Mr. Abbott, could you talk about the robust processes that go into setting the maximum residual levels at the EPA?
04:03How does this work and why this is so important when it comes to our export markets?
04:08I can just speak from experience.
04:10I am not an expert in that field by any stretch of the imagination.
04:12But in my career, I have had to deal with the MRLs, right?
04:17And different countries have different levels and different active ingredients have different levels.
04:22And they are rigorously followed, and it goes all the way down from the producer to the co-packer, and it follows all the way through the supply chain.
04:32Yeah, it does.
04:32I mean, it's very well thought through of where it goes, and, I mean, it's all identified.
04:37Yes, Don?
04:38We have certain products we grow that, if they're going to be exported to, let's say, Japan, we can't, we have restrictions on products that we can put on the crop.
04:48That's right.
04:48It kind of limits us, but we see that in several of the different commodities we grow.
04:54The MRLs hold back the use of certain products that we need.
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