Farmers
across Iowa are finishing their planting of corn and soybeans.
As
for the Grassley farm, Robin and Pat Grassley finished planting last Thursday.
Most
people have never stepped foot on a family farm, let alone know about all the
complexities that go into planting, growing and harvesting a bountiful crop.
That’s
why I often use my social media to show my followers what goes into farming.
I
like to show how only two percent of the population raises food for the other
98 percent and exports one third of our production.
Food
doesn’t just magically appear on the grocery store shelves.
When
so few people know what it takes to produce crops, we often run into obstacles
at the policymaking tables in Washington, D.C.
Dwight
Eisenhower said it best, “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil
and you’re a thousand miles away from a corn field.”
There
has never been a more important time than right now for farmers to have a
successful year.
We
are facing a world threatened by food shortages and food insecurity, the likes
of which we have not seen since the Arab Spring a decade ago—in large part
because of Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The
productivity of American farmers and ranchers this crop season will have a big
impact on the security and prosperity of countries around the world.
With
so much at stake, Washington, D.C., must provide farmers across the country a
consistent policy when it comes to the regulation of inputs and crop protection
products.
When
it comes to the regulation of these products, public policy must be based on
the best science available to make informed decisions.
Science-based
decisions shouldn’t surprise anybody in this town.
Science
was the golden rule in every coronavirus decision.
The
best science is why Congress enacted the Federal
Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act or FIFRA.
Since
1972, FIFRA has expressly preempted state law and vested the EPA with final
authority over pesticide labeling and usage.
Under
FIFRA, it is the EPA’s responsibility to undertake extensive scientific review
of regulated substances and determine what disclosures, if any, must be made on
product labels.
FIFRA
provides that EPA conduct studies to determine product safety.
Congress
intended that there be a federal regulatory regime that would impose warnings,
disclosures and restrictions on the use of certain products under FIFRA.
Congress
wanted science-based certainty and predictability for agriculture stakeholders
and the farm economy.
Unfortunately,
we have seen politically-motivated environmentalists pushing for restrictions
on regulated products that the EPA has determined are not necessary.
This
fundamentally undermines trust in the EPA and federal regulation of certain
products used in farming.
Have
no doubt, I strongly support thorough vetting of regulated products to ensure
public safety.
I
also strongly support ensuring Iowa farmers have the supplies they need to feed
families across America.
I
would hope President Biden would agree with me.
His
administration should be putting forward policy and taking positions that
protect public safety while ensuring farmers can produce the food that we need.
As
we look at the world with a growing shortage of food, we must ask ourselves
what more we can be done to support farmers.
Unfortunately,
some recent decisions by this administration do exactly the opposite.
Two
weeks ago, President Biden’s solicitor general filed a brief in a case
involving a widely used pesticide. In that brief, the SG flipped the
government’s long held position that FIFRA preempts state law and instead
argued against the EPA’s authority.
Now
you’d think such a significant change would be firmly based on the law and
science. However, the SG explained this astounding change by saying it was
because of politics. Perhaps that is why the EPA general counsel’s name doesn’t
appear on the brief.
I’ve
heard from many constituents about how serious an impact the position the Biden
administration has taken would have on the farming industry at large.
If
the court effectively adopts the SG’s position, and that of the lower court, it
will fundamentally disrupt the federal regulation of use and warnings under
FIFRA related to substances that farmers rely on every day.
It’s
clear that it wasn’t the intent of Congress when it enacted FIFRA for there to
be 50 state standards in addition to federal standards. The purpose of FIFRA
was to create a uniform regime with the authority vested in the EPA to set such
standards.
It’s
shocking that President Biden chose to put forward an argument that undermines
the public trust in the EPA by putting politics ahead of the longstanding and
consistent EPA regulation that enables farmers to grow the food we need. This
abrupt change in the administration’s position will have serious implications
for the farm economy and our food supply.
Again,
there needs to be a consistent regulatory regime to ensure the public’s trust
and to support U.S. agriculture so farmers can produce food to feed the nation
and the world.
As
Dr. Norman Borlaug, the Nobel Prize winner from Iowa said, “If you desire
peace, cultivate justice, but at the same time cultivate the fields to produce
more bread. Otherwise there will be no peace.”
