On September 8, 2017, the CPDA Agrotechnology Committee held its first inaugural meeting via conference call.  As reported previously, the CPDA Board of Directors approved the merger of the CPDA Regulatory and Adjuvants & Inerts Committees to establish a new CPDA Agrotechnology Committee effective September 1, 2017.  This move was designed to provide a more efficient structure for managing the regulatory and non-regulatory priority issues for CPDA members, while minimizing the duplication of issue management activities.  The CPDA Agrotechnology Committee is co-chaired by Dave Ferguson (Huntsman Corporation) and Gary Halvorson (independent consultant).

During its September 8^th call, the Committee took several important actions including its decision to reconstitute the CPDA DRT Work Group.  Historically over the years, this Work Group has collaborated with EPA in providing input on the development of the Agency’s voluntary Drift Reduction Technology (DRT) program. Committee members agreed that the Work Group should be reformed for purposes of educating EPA staff on how possible changes to the protocol now used by the Agency in its program could result in more realistic DRT ratings taking into account the latest scientific findings and research pertaining to drift.

In other actions, the Committee agreed to reform the Inerts and Organic Production Work Group which will monitor the activities of USDA’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).  Chairing the Work Group will be Steve Ralls (Evonik).  As reported previously, CPDA has engaged with the NOSB on issues relating to the retention of the former List 4 of inerts on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances in organic production.  CPDA has also provided recommendations to NOSB on a proposal to revise regulatory language to allow the use of substances on EPA’s Safer Chemical Ingredient List (SCIL) as inert ingredients in pesticides used in organic production.  These and other issues will likely be revisited by the newly resurrected CPDA Work Group.

Finally, the CPDA Agrotechnology Committee agreed to meet on a standing basis every 2^nd Friday of the month from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST. An additional meeting will take place on Monday October 9^th from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. EST, during the ASTM International Committee E-35  gathering in New Orleans. This meeting, which will be held in Grand Ballroom E of the Sheraton Hotel in New Orleans, is open to all CPDA members as well as attendees of the ASTM conference.