U.S. Senator John Boozman, R-AR, ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, recently released drafted framework of the Farm bill.
“The National Association of Landscape Professionals commends Ranking Member Boozman for his leadership to push the process forward on reauthorizing the Farm bill,” stated Andrew Bray, senior vice president of government affairs and membership at NALP. “What has been proposed today includes many bipartisan provisions and mirrors many of the provisions from the House Farm bill most important to the landscape industry concerning pesticide policy under the Federal Insecticides, Fungicide and Rodenticides Act.”
The framework included some of the priorities that Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow included in her framework that was released in May and many of the provisions that were in the House version of the Farm bill that passed out of the committee in May. The provisions that most positively impact the landscape industry include reauthorizing the FIFRA interagency working group, providing greater clarity for bio-stimulants to be used by applicators, strengthening the role of the USDA Office of Pest Management Policy and codifying the role of state authority when considering the sale and use of pesticides.
“Ensuring that policy decisions concerning pesticide use remain at the state level is of paramount importance to protect our nation’s food supply, public health, pets, property and the environment, and codifying state-level preemption is what already exists in 45 states,” explained Bray. “Absent strong preemption language, a political subdivision can usurp the extensive state and federal regulatory scheme placing all communities in danger of unnecessary exposure to harm that all manner of pests presents, from insects to diseases, from weeds to rodents and everything in between, we greatly appreciate the inclusion of this provision in Ranking Member Boozman’s framework.”
Stabenow and Boozman are actively engaged in negotiations between the two frameworks, with the aim of introducing a bill for committee negotiation later this summer or into the fall. The House is planning to move its version of the Farm Bill across the full House floor in September.
