Cedar View Farms Fort Hall, Idaho--Putnam photoWashington--The Environmental Protection Agencies comment period on soil fumigants will close later this month and that has Idaho farmers and chemical companies concerned because they have just three weeks to comment.
Soil fumigants are used on potatoes, beets onions and hay, four of Idaho's biggest cash crops. Farmers think the proposed rules could drastically cut acreages and cost millions in added costs and lost revenue not to mention the mountains of red tape.
On July 16, EPA announced reregistration for the pesticides that kill soil-borne pests on crops including potatoes. They also opened a 60-day public comment period on these RED documents. In response to requests from Agriculture groups the agency extended the public comment period to Oct. 30.
Farmers and chemical companies contend there hasn't been enough time, data or research to close the comment period and say more research has to be done.
“The EPA needs to allow manufacturers time to develop data, these trials take a lot of time to generate and they're expensive and no one knows how to do them correctly; many haven’t been done scientifically and we need to take a real good scientific approach to it,” said John Orr of AmVac Chemical Company.
The EPA contends that when fumigants evaporate from the soil workers and bystanders can experience eye or respiratory irritation and even more severe and irreversible effects depending on the fumigant and level of exposure.
The agency took a look at all the soil fumigants on the market and decided reregister all the chemicals and to make sure there are no other risks out there. The EPA wants farmers to do the following :
A written, site-specific fumigant management plan; Buffer zones around treated fields; Posting requirements so people do not enter treated areas; Emergency preparedness information and training; Outreach programs to educate the community; Worker protection measures and training; and Classification of all soil fumigant products as restricted-use pesticides.
"It means that Joe Farmer in Blackfoot Idaho can't afford to do all of the mitigation rules, he could lose half of his potato acreage because he can't fumigate. We're worried that the small farmer will be most at risk," said Orr. "The little farmers could go out of business because they need fumigation in these fields and if they cant; they are done."
EPA's decision will stop the use of methyl bromide on sites where alternatives are available. The newly registered fumigant iodomethane will also be reexamined later this year to determine what new mitigation or restrictions are necessary according to the agency. The time frames worry farmers, manufacturers want to see the research data.
“What really needs to happen is that the EPA needs to allow the industry, the manufacturers time to develop data that supports reduction of these buffer zones, we know we're going to have buffer zones of some kind, that’s a given. If we had time to generate good data, sound scientific data then our farmers could live with the smaller buffer zones," added Orr.
Timeline for Next Steps:
October 2008 – Comment period closes
Late 2008 to Early 2009 – EPA considers comments, develops responses
Early 2009 – EPA issues RED amendments if needed and issues product specific and generic data call-ins 2009 – Registrants begin implementing training and community outreach and education programs
Late 2009 – Product data and revised labels submitted to EPA
Early 2010 – EPA reviews, approves new soil fumigant labels
2010 – New labels begin appearing in the field
2013 – EPA begins reevaluation of soil fumigants under the Registration Review program
How to Submit Comments:
Comments will be accepted on implementation of the risk mitigation measures in EPA’s soil fumigant risk management decisions until October 30, 2008 on this website: http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/reregistration/soil_fumigants/
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