Herbicide Application and the Endangered Species Act Update

By Dusty Sonnenberg, CCA, Field Leader, a project of the Ohio Soybean Council and Soybean Checkoff

Private and Commercial Pesticide applicators have the responsibility of ensuring that the chemicals they apply effectively reach the target, but do not have off-target movement. Chemical drift and other forms of off-target movement have been a recent focus of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as it conducts risk assessments and reviews products for registration and reregistration under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was established to protect threatened and endangered species and their habitats.

Dr. Alyssa Essman is an assistant Professor and weed science extension specialist at The Ohio State University. She says that the EPA is updating herbicide labels under the requirements of the ESA as products go through the registration and reregistration process.

“The Endangered Species Act has been around for quite a while. In recent years, the EPA has come under fire for not meeting all the obligations outlined in the Endangered Species Act with respect to off-target movement of pesticides,” Essman said. “As a result, the new herbicide strategy from the EPA is going to influence all pesticide applications. Essentially, the EPA is updating the herbicide labeling framework.”

In the EPA’s herbicide strategy, measures are being developed to mitigate off-target movement and establish geographically specific pesticide use limitations.  

“There are new requirements related to herbicide applications that can be found in a couple of different ways. The goal is to mitigate off-target movement, so things like drift, runoff, and erosion of our pesticides to protect endangered species and their habitats,” Essman said. “The EPA’s suggested avenue for dealing with these issues is through mitigation measures. There is a list of different mitigation measures that can be followed and associated with different point values and herbicides as they go through the registration or re-registration process to receive an updated product label. Product labels will have a section related to the Endangered Species Act and what is called a PULA, or a pesticide use limitation area.”

The label is the law, and applicators are responsible for following the new requirements as product labels are developed.

“Anywhere that a mitigation measure is required for the use of the herbicide, it will be listed on the herbicide label,” Essman said. “If it is on the product label, that mitigation measure must be implemented anywhere the product is applied. If we are within a pesticide use limitation area, this information will be found on the EPA’s Bulletins Live 2 system. Essentially, what this means is that within six months up to the day of application, applicants must check the Bulletins Live 2 system for the presence of a PULA or a pesticide use limitation area. These are areas where additional mitigation measures might be required for the application of a product.”

Farmers and custom applicators should familiarize themselves with Bulletins Live 2.

“There are a couple of user tips you should keep in mind when visiting the site,” Essman said. “Google Chrome seems to be the best browser to navigate the site. The other thing we suggest is that on your product label, you are going to have an EPA registration number. To get you right to the product you’re interested in looking at, we always suggest folks plug in that EPA registration number. Right now, we only have a handful of products that have labeling that follows this framework. For the 2026 growing season, if you are using Liberty Ultra, that is one of the products that follows the labeling. Right now, per the label, there are some application requirements for off-target movement from drift that require following, but there is no pesticide use limitation area. This was the first product labeled following this system.”

Other popular products are also included in 2026.

“We now have the three dicamba products that can be applied over the top in dicamba-resistant soybeans. They include Engenia® by BASF, Tavium® by Syngenta, and Striax by Bayer. These products also follow this framework, and there are a handful of pesticide use limitation areas in the state. Essentially, what this means is you need to go from three to six mitigation points,”  Essman said. “The way to get points is to review the mitigation measure list that the EPA has created. Each measure has a different value associated with it. Implementing those points within your operation or those measures within your operation is required up to a certain number of points for the application to be allowed.”

The private or custom applicator making the herbicide application must still record the necessary data.

“In our discussions with the ODA, in terms of who is ultimately responsible for keeping the records, it is the applicator,” Essman said. “Whoever will be applying that product and has their commercial pesticide license or operates under one must ensure mitigation measures are in place and that they are following the application parameters for things like wind speed and buffer size, and all the requirements on the label.”