LAYING DOWN THE LAW

MSGA takes advocacy to the courts

By MSGA Executive Director Joe Smentek

MSGA has had a proactive, constant presence in legislative and regulatory arenas since its creation 61 years ago. Our farmer-leaders have led the charge on passing legislation to help farmers, along with stopping legislation that would harm their operations.

MSGA also makes sure the voice of Minnesota’s 27,000 soybean farmers is heard during rulemaking processes.

Unfortunately, the Minnesota Administrative Procedures Act and the Federal Administrative Procedures Act stack the deck heavily in the regulatory agencies’ favor. This means many times, even though there are legitimate concerns raised by MSGA, farmers’ concerns are minimized and ignored by regulatory agencies. Once a regulatory agency denies a contested case hearing and essentially rules in its own favor, options are severely limited as to what can be done. In most cases, the only option is to sue the agency in court.

Member-driven

MSGA’s advocacy efforts are funded largely in part by our members and industry supporters. In accordance with the Soybean Act and Order that created the federal soybean checkoff, zero checkoff dollars can be used to influence units of government. As anyone with a passing knowledge of TV law dramas knows, lawsuits are expensive and drawn out. While MSGA has been making strategic investments trying to build a bank account to fund court activities, our budget falls far short of being able to enter lawsuits challenging agency action.

Fortunately, MSGA has found some key partners willing to help us challenge actions of regulatory agencies in the past year. MSGA joined with Gharda Chemicals, the American Soybean Growers Association, U.S. Sugarbeet Association and a collection of state sugarbeet and soybean associations to challenge EPA’s actions against the use of chlorpyrifos. This action is moving its way through the necessary procedures under the Federal Administrative Procedures Act. We are arguing that EPA’s actions completely eliminating tolerances for chlorpyrifos go against EPA’s own scientific findings that there are safe uses for the chemistry.

Locking arms

MSGA also found partners with much deeper pockets to challenge the EPA’s actions on tailpipe emissions on vehicles. In suits challenging the tailpipe emission standards for light duty and heavy duty vehicles, we joined other liquid fuel companies in arguing that the standards improperly force companies to incorporate electric vehicles into their car lines in order to meet these standards and that the rules laid out frustrate the purpose of federal statutes such as the Renewable Fuel Standard. These same partners are helping MSGA join litigation that challenges the reinstatement of the California waiver under the Clean Air Act.

Finally, MSGA is working with other groups to challenge rules passed by the MPCA in state that force adoption of electric cars. Recent Supreme Court cases cast doubt on the validity of these rules, and we will be working to make sure the proper precedents are followed.

Thankfully, in these cases we found partners with substantial financial resources. That will not always be the case. As more and more advocating takes place in the state and federal courts, membership in MSGA matters more than ever to make sure we stand up and speak out for soy farmers wherever we need to secure more policy and regulatory wins.

By Soybean Business Staff

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has announced it will keep state-specific use restrictions for three dicamba herbicide products the same for the 2023 growing season in Minnesota. The restrictions are aimed at curbing offsite movement of the products, and follow the guidelines recommended by the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association’s prior to the 2022 growing season. MSGA’s recommendations led to a steep drop in complaints in 2022.

“Our No. 1 goal was to keep this product for safe use because it does work,” said MSGA President Bob Worth, who also chairs MSGA’s Drift Task Force. “We’re glad the Minnesota Department of Agriculture is working to make that happen.” In February, the EPA also announced it would not overrule MDA’s decision, clearing the way for Minnesota farmers to safely use dicamba in 2023.

The affected dicamba formulations are Engenia by BASF, Tavium by Syngenta and XtendiMax by Bayer. These are the only dicamba products labeled for use on dicamba-tolerant soybeans.

The three products are registered for use in Minnesota in 2023 with the following restrictions:

• Date Cutoff: No application shall be made south of Interstate 94 after June 12, 2023. North of Interstate 94, use is prohibited after June 30, 2023.

• Temperature Cutoff: No application shall be made if the air temperature of the field at the time of application is over

85 degrees Fahrenheit or if the National Weather Service’s forecasted high temperature for the nearest available location for the day exceeds 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

Users can download these restrictions from the product manufacturer’s website, and must be in the user’s possession during application.

“These restrictions mirror what we did in 2022 when we saw a major decrease in complaints of off-target movement from the previous year,” MDA Commissioner Thom Petersen said. “These products must be used without impacts on neighboring homes, farms and gardens. The Minnesotaspecific restrictions are based on scientific evidence from our drift investigations and discussions with the University of Minnesota Extension and (MSGA’s) Drift Task Force.”

During the 2022 growing season, MDA received 25 formal complaints and eight responses to an informal survey, all alleging off-target movement. This was a major decrease from 2021, which saw a total of 304 formal complaints and survey responses.

“The restrictions worked perfectly last year,” Worth said. “The people that had any problems, it happened because they went off-label and applied it wrong.”

Other federal requirements for the products that appear on the product labels include:

• Requiring an approved pH-buffering agent, also known as a volatility reducing agent, be tank mixed with dicamba products prior to all applications

• Requiring a downwind buffer of 240 feet and 310 feet in areas where listed endangered species are located

• Additional recordkeeping items

In addition to the cutoff date, Xtendimax and Tavium have crop growth stage cutoffs.

Since dicamba was first registered for use on dicamba-tolerant soybeans in the 2017 growing season, MDA has fielded complaints of alleged off-site movement onto neighboring property. The chemical is highly volatile and can damage non-target plant species through spray drift and/ or volatilization. Volatility is influenced by several factors including temperature, relative humidity, rate of application and crop stage.

In Minnesota, Engenia, Tavium and XtendiMax formulations of dicamba are approved for use on dicamba-tolerant soybeans only and are “Restricted Use Pesticides.” The dicamba products are only for retail sale and use by certified applicators.

Pesticide product registrations are renewed on an annual basis in Minnesota.