Change on the Horizon for Pesticide Policy

Over the next few years, farmers in Illinois will face changes in pesticide policy, which will impact how farmers run their operations. Corey Lacey, a Public Policy manager with the Illinois Soybean Association, says these changes will come from the Environmental Protection Agency to comply with the Endangered Species Act.

“We are seeing increased differences in labels. We are used to seeing very static labels on pesticides– we are going to have [labels] that are dynamic, where they get updated on an annual or more often than that online. Farmers will have to go online to see where their pesticide labels are, and how they’re changing. We are also seeing complexity around what the regulation means,” says Lacey. “So, based on my field location, I’m going have different restrictions on pesticide use than even a field a mile down the road. That will be based around where an endangered species is expected to be and where it’s not expected to be.”

Lacey adds these regulations will not apply to every pesticide immediately, but farmers will have to start making these decisions in the next year or two.