On The Scoop podcast, Richard Gupton, Senior Vice President of Public Policy & Counsel at ARA, shares his perspective for the policy and regulatory actions ag retailers can expect in 2022.
“Both the EPA and the Department of Labor have had a fairly active agenda,” Gupton says. “We’re concerned about some of the regulatory proposals coming out of the administration and the cost. You’re looking at billions of dollars of potential costs on the industry”
He says the actions on pesticide regulations are two-pronged:
- Restricting use by decreasing the tolerance of residues (Chlorpyrifos)
- Using the endangered species act as a tool to limit applications
“And so we’re concerned about tools being taken away from the industry that makes it harder to produce a crop,” he says adding: “For example, the litigation and focus on glyphosate. That’s an important tool to deal with climate change and no till practices. So having these things to help production agriculture is important. And so we’re concerned not only on the litigation front for the agency front of limiting those tools and taking them away from the industry.”
Hear the full episode here:
Of what Congress has achieved and could take action on in the year ahead, Gupton says it was a bipartisan victory to pass the infrastructure bill.
“It was focused to dedicate additional funds needed for our infrastructure, particularly in rural communities, whether it’s bridges, ports, water infrastructure,” he says. “There’s also key provisions in there related to addressing the driver shortage.”
Gupton has been working on driver regulations and policies for two decades to help ag retailers have access to the necessary labor pool needed in this industry.
“There’s provisions in there that can help them address that [supply chain issue] and hopefully for the long term to have a apprenticeship program for younger drivers aged 18 to 20. There’s also more flexibility with the seasonal ag CDL or the formulated restricted CDL Program. The ARA worked with Senator Moran on and getting in this bipartisan bill,” he says.
Next steps include program implementation and the public comment period.
“We’ve urged them to expedite the reforms to the seasonal ag CDL program to try to get states to be able to implement that ideally this year, but at least going to next year again to deal with the supply chain related issues on the transportation front,” Gupton says.
As for what’s to come—Gupton says it’s a bit of a toss up.
“There’s gridlock still in Congress because you’ve got an election coming up in November, and it is going to be here faster than we think. And then I think because of that stalled legislative front, the Biden administration, unfortunately, will probably ramp up their regulatory efforts. And that’s something that we’re going to continue to keep a close watch on,” Gupton says.
ARA is organizing its annual fly-in. Learn more here on how ag retailers can have meetings with their legislators.
The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) seeks to assist members with questions about federal legislation impacting agriculture and regulatory compliance issues. If you have advocacy or regulatory questions or are interested in booking meetings with your representatives. The tool available is the DC Help Desk. More information here.
