The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a new initiative to reduce chemical use on American farms. The EPA is offering $30 million in funding for the development of affordable, real-world alternatives to chemical crop desiccation.
Chemical Crop Desiccation
Chemical crop desiccation is a common agricultural practice where pesticides are sprayed to dry out crops in the final days before they are harvested. This practice is widely used on crops such as small grains, cotton, potatoes, oilseeds, beans, and peas. However, because these chemicals are applied so close to the time of harvest, they can leave residues on food and present health risks to the farmworkers who apply them.
The EPA’s new push utilizes its legal authority to regulate pesticides while aligning with the Trump Administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, an effort focused on modernizing U.S. agriculture and promoting sustainable farming systems. The agency is looking for solutions that keep farms running efficiently without relying on traditional chemical sprays.
Call for Solutions
The EPA is interested in a variety of non-chemical approaches, including mechanical or physical drying methods, precision agriculture technologies, biological inputs that carry lower risks, better crop scheduling, and post-harvest conditioning innovations. Many of these concepts tie into Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and regenerative farming practices, which use natural timing and technology to lower operational costs and chemical exposure.
The agency is inviting feedback from a wide range of stakeholders, including farmers, agricultural organizations, equipment manufacturers, researchers, public health experts, environmental groups, and local, state, and tribal agencies. Specifically, the EPA wants to learn about current barriers to adopting these new technologies, research gaps, equipment needs, supply chain issues, and how the final prize money should be structured.
Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.
