The Ongoing Journey to Pesticide Preemption

J.D. Darr, Senior Director, Legislative & Regulatory Affairs, NPMA

Since 2022, NPMA has been advocating for state-level pesticide preemption in the Farm Bill. In short, NPMA members are encouraging Congress to pass a Farm Bill that includes a provision to prohibit local regulation of pesticides and reinforce that state departments of agriculture—or other state-level pesticide regulatory agencies—are best suited to oversee pest control.

Throughout 2022 and 2023, Congress failed to authorize a new Farm Bill, and the 2018 Farm Bill expired in September 2023. When a Farm Bill expires, its programs remain in effect through the end of the calendar year. This gave Congress a few-month grace period before it ultimately decided to pass a one-year extension of the previous version. This meant that Congress needed to pass a Farm Bill by September 2024, or else the extension of the 2018 bill would expire again.

With a glimmer of hope, in May 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture marked up its chamber’s Farm Bill and passed a bill out of committee that included state-level pesticide preemption. One month later, the leading Republican on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, ranking member John Boozman, introduced a framework for his party’s Farm Bill priorities, which included the state-level pesticide preemption provision.

Unfortunately, despite momentum in the House and Senate, the extension expired in September, and neither the full House nor the Senate advanced a Farm Bill before the November elections. As expected, a Farm Bill was not a priority for the lame duck legislators, and Congress failed to move a bill in the remaining months of 2024.

With a new Congress in 2025, NPMA stands ready to build on last year’s momentum and work with Republicans and Democrats to ensure that the passage of the 2025 Farm Bill is a first priority. As state legislative sessions start back up this winter, we will once again be diligently fighting against state legislation that promotes local regulation of pesticides. We look forward to NPMA’s Legislative Day program happening March 9-11, which will be a great opportunity for NPMA members to remind Congress that we need a federal fix now!  

CHECK OUT ALL THE OFFICES NPMA HAS MET WITH TO DISCUSS THE IMPORTANCE OF STATE-LEVEL PREEMPTION.

U.S. Senate

U.S. House of Representatives