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US EPA to approve first beehive uses of biopesticide to control wax moths

EPA is proposing to register a pesticide product containing Bacillus thuringiensis, subsp. aizawai strain ABTS 1857 (Bta ABTS 1857) to prevent and control wax moths in beehives. This product offers beekeepers a new tool against destructive wax…

US, China to sign phase one trade agreement

President Trump on Wednesday signed a partial trade deal with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, China. China will boost purchases of U.S. goods and services by $200 billion over two years in exchange for the rolling back of some tariffs under…

EPA finalizes list of next 20 chemicals to undergo risk evaluation under TSCA

After reviewing input from stakeholders and the public, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the next 20 chemicals to undergo risk evaluation under the amended Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Finalizing this list of…

California bans chlorpyrifos, all sales will end on Feb. 6, 2020

A widely used agricultural pesticide that California environmental officials have said has been linked to brain damage in children will be banned after next year under an agreement reached with the manufacturer, state officials announced Wednesday. Under…

USDA pesticide report: 99% of samples below benchmark levels

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today published the 2018 Pesticide Data Program (PDP) Annual Summary. The summary shows more than 99 percent of the samples tested had pesticide residues well below…

Office of Indiana State Chemist announces 2020 dicamba restriction

The Office of Indiana State Chemist (OISC), the pesticide regulatory agency for Indiana, recently announced an additional label restriction for users of the herbicide dicamba. After careful consideration, State Chemist and Seed Commissioner…

Canada working to diversify canola seed sales

Canada is working to diversify its canola seed sales, says Brian Innes, the Canola Council of Canada’s vice-president of public affairs. “As an industry we are doing what we can to diversify,” Innes said in an interview from Geneva,…

The US EPA is changing how it tests agricultural pesticides

If you ask most consumers whether they want to avoid pesticides in their food, they’ll undoubtedly tell you yes, but few may understand how the government comes to approve these chemicals in the first place. On September 10, the U.S. Environmental…

US organic corn, soybean producers face sharp production declines

Spring weather has taken a toll on U.S. organic commodity producers, evidenced by a significant drop in overall corn and soybean production for 2019, according to a new report from Mercaris, the nation's leading data and trading platform for…