CropLife America Joins Industry Effort to Modernize AGDISP

NAAA is pleased to announce that CropLife America (CLA) has joined the list of agricultural organizations supporting the AGDISP Modernization Project (AMP). CropLife America’s support is another important demonstration of the agricultural industry’s commitment to ensuring pesticide regulations are informed by current science, technology and real-world application practices.

EPA and other global regulators and stakeholders use AGDISP to evaluate a variety of potential spray drift conditions and off-site deposition from liquid pesticide applications to determine application methods and application parameters on a pesticide’s label. The modernization will update AGDISP with current computing technologies and enable the incorporation of current and emerging environmental stewardship technologies and precision agriculture practices into the EPA’s pesticide registration regulatory process.

CLA joins a broad coalition supporting the modernization effort, including the Aerial Application Association of Australia, Bayer CropScience, the National Corn Growers Association, the Cotton Foundation, the American Mosquito Control Association, NAAA and NAAREF.

NAAA greatly appreciates CropLife America’s support of this important initiative. Continued participation from pesticide manufacturers, agricultural organizations and grower groups will help ensure that AGDISP remains a scientifically robust tool capable of accurately evaluating modern pesticide applications.

A modernized AGDISP can better account for site- and environment-specific conditions, support drift-reduction techniques, and enable scenario-specific evaluations – allowing regulators to estimate potential spray drift more accurately in ecological and human-health risk assessments. It will also enable recognition of the drift reduction benefits of new application technologies, which could help drive towards label requirements optimized for real-field applications. This would, in turn, reward farmers who adopt the advanced tools and site-specific application information needed to optimize pesticide use, environmental and human protection, and food production. The updated model will remain publicly available and open source.

Are you or do you know a company interested in sponsoring AGDISP? Contact Scott Bretthauer.