In August, the Environmental Protection Agency released its final Herbicide Strategy. In a statement, the EPA described it as “an unprecedented step in protecting over 900 federally endangered and threatened species from the potential impacts of herbicides.” For decades, the EPA tried to comply with the courts on a pesticide-by-pesticide, species-by-species basis. To minimize future litigation, farmers will now be required to take more stringent measures to reduce spray drift or runoff. North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring described the EPA’s action as “the most significant imposition of new regulation on the agricultural sector in generations.” The new herbicide strategy is RRFN’s #6 story of 2024.
