In October 2023, CCM and the Citrus Quality Council (CCQC) provided the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) comments concerning its Draft Herbicide Strategy to Reduce Exposure of Federally Endangered and Threatened Species and Designated Critical Habitats from agricultural herbicides. Since then, the EPA has published the final strategy. The final draft no longer imposes any requirements or restrictions on pesticide usage. Instead, it will use The Strategy to inform mitigations needed for new active ingredients (AIs) and registration review of agricultural herbicides that pose risks to complying with the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
In the EPA mitigation menu, citrus-growing counties are listed as low or very low vulnerable runoff areas, which do not require further mitigations; however, CCM is committed to working with stakeholders and the EPA to ensure all can comply and protect endangered species.
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