The Environmental Protection Agency has announced a new method for conducting biological evaluations under the Endangered Species Act. It’s to assure pesticide registration review actions under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act don’t jeopardize endangered species. Iowa Soybean Association President Tim Bardole says cutting the red tape with this new method is helpful for producers as well as the environment.

He says producers use pesticides responsibly because they care about and want to protect the environment and don’t want to overuse these products as it creates more expenses.

Bardole says by streamlining the approval process for pesticides, it helps get more and better products into the marketplace. He says that is more environmentally friendly in the long run.

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says this will allow farmers the tools they need to protect their crops while ensuring the environment is protected. The Secretary of the Interior says this revised method is an improved framework that incorporates actual pesticide usage data that are accurate and legally defensible.