EPA's New Plan to Mitigate Pesticide Runoff and Drift: What You Need to Know

Changes to herbicide labels are coming in the next few years, which will be based on the Environmental Protection Agency's recently released "Herbicide Strategy." The primary aim of the Herbicide Strategy is to identify mitigation practices that will reduce the exposure of threatened or endangered plant and animal species to herbicide spray drift and surface runoff. This was necessary to better comply with the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which is a long-standing federal law that impacts pesticide registration and use.

At this date, there are a few things you need to know.

• EPA's Herbicide Strategy will not impact your herbicide program on a specific date. Rather, changes will be made to individual labels, including existing and new products. This process will take place over several years.
• Your location will determine the necessary steps needed to comply with herbicide labels. This will require the use of a web-based tool called Bulletins Live! Two.
• Future herbicide labels will provide multiple options for staying in compliance via a mitigation point system. Some geographic locations and herbicides will require more points than others.

Location-specific Requirements

The EPA anticipates that, in many cases, mitigation requirements for a given herbicide will apply across the full geography and crop use pattern (i.e., labeled crops). In this case, product labels would provide a list of mitigation options. The number of required mitigation points will vary by county, depending on pesticide runoff vulnerability. Six Pennsylvania counties (Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Delaware, Northampton, Lebanon) are in the highest runoff vulnerability category. The remaining counties will require fewer mitigation points.

Herbicide labels may also direct applicators to EPA's Bulletins Live! Two website. This website will detail more restrictive mitigation requirements for specific geographic areas known to contain critical habitat, called Pesticide Use Limitation Areas (PULAs). Currently, some areas within southcentral, central, and northcentral Pennsylvania contain PULAs and may be subject to additional restrictions.

Mitigation Practices

Herbicide labels will include a picklist of mitigation practices that include application strategies, in-field soil and crop management, and edge-of-field land management. Compliance will come down to scoring mitigation points based on the herbicide label directions.

Spray drift mitigation measures will include the use of buffers and application parameters, including nozzle selection, application speed, and use of adjuvants. Though adhering to spray buffers can be challenging in small fields, adjusting your sprayer setup to reduce drift potential is a best management practice (BMP) that can also save you money.

In-field surface runoff mitigation measures include several common conservation practices, including no-till production, cover crops, intercropping, and use of grass waterways. In fact, just the combination of no-till production and cover cropping could score enough mitigation points to meet requirements in some scenarios.

A few additional ways to score mitigation points are also good general farm management practices. Enrolling in a conservation program, working with a conservation specialist, and maintaining mitigation records at a field and farm level will all result in additional points. Starting a conversation now with your certified crop advisor, NRCS representative, or county extension educator about conservation programs and record-keeping strategies will help you navigate herbicide labels in the coming years.

Summary

These compliance measures may seem complex, but a broad range of herbicide options will likely be preserved with some planning, recordkeeping, and good management practices. For more information on the Herbicide Strategy, visit the EPA’s website to find their 'Pesticides and Endangered Species Educational Resource Toolbox.'