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by AFBF & OFBF staff

Atrazine is under attack by environmental activists, and Farm Bureau is attempting to wade into the battle. The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is among a group of farm organizations that have filed a motion to be a "full party defendant" in a case brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). NRDC has sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to force it to ban atrazine until the agency studies the chemical’s effect on endangered species.

AFBF legal specialist Rick Krause, explaining AFBF’s action, said "If our intervention is granted it will allow ag producers to participate in the lawsuit just as if we were the defendant. It would give us full rights along with the government to participate in any settlement discussions that might be entered into. It would give us full rights to argue the case in court if it gets that far. It would also give us rights to appeal a decision that we didn't like." Krause added, "The only people that can fully represent our interests are ourselves. So in order to be fully protected and to fully protect our producers around the country, it's important for us to intervene in the case."

Agriculture relies heavily on atrazine as a safe, economic and extremely effective crop protection tool. On the market for more than 45 years, the herbicide "has become one of the most important and widely used herbicides in U.S. agriculture production because of its effectiveness in suppressing weeds without injuring the crops themselves," according to the AFBF motion. Alternative herbicides provide less weed control and are not as likely to protect crops from injury, Farm Bureau contended.

Krause said atrazine is used on about two-thirds of the nation’s corn crop. Should atrazine be banned, Krause said, "On corn alone the damages are estimated to be over $900 million a year, so it would have a very significant impact on farmers across the country." The chemical also is used on an estimated two-thirds of the nation’s sorghum and 90 percent of its sugarcane crops. Krause also said that for decades, farmers have invested heavily in necessary equipment for atrazine use, personnel training on the proper handling of the herbicide and formulating product development plans for atrazine.

At press time, it was not known if the court would accept Farm Bureau’s motion to become a full party to the suit.