Corn and sorghum growers took time away from their farms to testify in August before an Environmental Protection Agency Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) about the importance of atrazine. The purpose of the three-day virtual meeting was to provide independent scientific feedback on EPA’s draft white paper, Examination of the Microcosm/Mesocosm Studies for Evaluating the Effects of Atrazine on Aquatic Plant Communities, submitted to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) SAP for peer review.

“I am very concerned that EPA relied on low quality scientific data when it proposed an ultra-low 3.4 parts per billion threshold,” said Matt Holysz, president of the Corn Marketing Program of Michigan. “If this proposed revision goes through, it would effectively end the use of atrazine on my farm and on most farms – including more than 100,000 acres in Southwest Michigan.”

Holysz was joined by growers from Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Minnesota, as well as industry representatives from the National Corn Growers Association, National Sorghum Producers, Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation, and leaders of the Triazine Network, a diverse coalition of more than 40 state and national agricultural groups actively involved in atrazine regulatory actions. The Corn Marketing Program of Michigan worked closely with the Triazine Network and industry partners to advocate for this week’s SAP to clarify the science behind EPA’s dramatic shifts in the 2022 “Proposed Revisions to the Atrazine Interim Registration Review Decision.”

When the atrazine comment period closed last October, more than 16,000 farmers and agricultural organizations representing corn, sorghum, citrus, sugar cane, and other crops across the country united against EPA’s flawed proposed revision, calling for the agency to base decisions on credible scientific evidence. During this week’s SAP, speakers shared real-world implications of EPA’s actions on today’s sustainable farming practices.

EPA expects to receive the SAP’s recommendations in late November. According to an EPA official advising the SAP, the agency will consider the panel’s suggestions in recalculating the proposed revisions before moving into a court-ordered review required under the Endangered Species Act.