By Alex Enlow, Director of Communications & Member Experience
It’s been a busy few months for ag retail, and ARA has been in the battle on every front. In Congress, we’re pushing a workforce bill that modernizes how retailers access labor. In the administration, we’re holding EPA to its own science and getting long-delayed crop protection tools across the finish line. And at the Supreme Court, we just watched a science-based labeling standard prevail over a patchwork of state court verdicts.
These are three different arenas with one constant: Decisions that shape your business are being made, and ARA is there, fighting for your freedom to operate. Here’s what we’ve been up to.
ARA Endorses Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act
House Agriculture Committee Chairman GT Thompson recently introduced the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act (SAWA), and ARA was proud to lend our full support to this long-overdue effort to modernize the H-2A visa program.
Agricultural retailers cannot serve farmers without a dependable workforce behind them. From custom application crews to warehouse and logistics staff, retailers depend on a stable labor pipeline to get seed, fertilizer and crop protection products into the field on time. Unfortunately, persistent labor shortages have made that increasingly difficult, and the current H-2A system, built for a different era of agriculture, has not kept pace with how ag retailers and their farmer-customers actually operate today.
SAWA takes on several reforms ARA has championed for years: streamlining the H-2A application process, providing greater flexibility for year-round agricultural employment, improving worker portability between employers and modernizing outdated wage requirements. Together, these changes would give agricultural employers a more reliable, more efficient path to the workforce they need while preserving important worker protections.
Prior to the bill’s introduction, ARA sent a letter of support for SAWA to Thompson, underscoring the bill’s importance to the ag retail sector of the supply chain.
ARA commends Thompson for his leadership in advancing meaningful agricultural labor reform and looks forward to working with Congress to advance this legislation. ARA members should expect to hear more as SAWA moves through Congress, including opportunities to weigh in.
Advancing Crop Protection Registrations
After many years of delay, EPA approved several pending pesticide registrations. This move was consistent with the urgent action ARA requested in a May 29 letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.
As we stated, the pending registrations had completed EPA’s rigorous scientific and risk assessment process, had been found safe for human health and the environment when used as labeled, represented a decade or more of research and development investment and, in many cases, had exceeded statutory review deadlines under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) by more than two years. After completing that process, any barriers to registering these products were not scientific decisions.
Delayed registration poses economic consequences for growers already contending with resistant weeds, such as Palmer amaranth and waterhemp, and fungal disease pressure in specialty crops like grapes, tree nuts and pome fruit.
With these approvals, farmers should have new tools available for the 2027 growing season. However, state-level reviews and registrations are still required before any of these products can be used in a given state. ARA is hopeful there are no further delays at this level so these products reach shelves before next spring’s planting window closes.
ARA appreciates EPA’s authorization of these registrations, and we will continue to press the agency on the registrations still pending. Agricultural retailers are the final link between crop protection innovations and the farmers who need them. ARA is ready to work with EPA to ensure American farmers have access to the tools that protect their crops, livelihoods and our country’s food security.
SCOTUS Rules in Favor of Federal Preemption
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a major win for agricultural retailers, applicators and the farmers they serve with a 7-2 decision in Monsanto v. Durnell. The court held that FIFRA expressly preempts state-law failure-to-warn claims against pesticide manufacturers that use EPA-approved labels, reaffirming that a single, science-based federal standard governs pesticide labeling nationwide rather than a patchwork of state-court verdicts.
For ARA members, the practical takeaway is straightforward: If you are selling, handling or applying crop protection products in accordance with an EPA-approved label, state courts cannot hold you liable for failing to include warnings that EPA has not required.
It’s a significant victory, but not the end of the story. Other legalities remain in play, and ARA will continue to reinforce the need for labeling uniformity with our lawmakers as other court cases progress.
ARA has been engaged in this issue from the start. In addition to filing an amicus brief prepared by Faegre Drinker, ARA President and CEO Daren Coppock authored an opinion piece in Farm Journal’s The Scoop earlier this year laying out exactly what was at stake, a piece worth revisiting now that the court has weighed in.
Results, With More in Progress
That’s two wins plus one fight in progress. A labor bill is moving through committee, additional registrations remain pending at EPA and the fight over pesticide liability is far from over. Now more than ever, ag retailers need to join this fight. Your membership directly protects your freedom to operate and strengthens the odds of economic success for your business and the farmers you serve.
If you’re already a member, thank you. If you’re not, now is the time to become one. The more of us in this fight, the more wins like these ARA can deliver. To join, visit aradc.org/join.
