EPA Cancels Chlorpyrifos Use on All but Eleven Crops

In an expected move, earlier this week the EPA canceled the use of chlorpyrifos on all food and feed crops except for the following 11: alfalfa, apple, asparagus, cherry (tart), citrus, cotton, peach, soybean, strawberry, sugar beets and wheat (both spring and winter).

This cancelation was part of the follow up from the November 2023 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that vacated EPA’s 2021 rule banning chlorpyrifos from use on all food and feed crops. The Eighth Circuit found that EPA erred in their 2021 rule by claiming they had not found a way to safely re-register chlorpyrifos; EPA’s 2020 proposed interim decision for chlorpyrifos did allow for the safe use of chlorpyrifos by restricting its use to these 11 crops.

Chlorpyrifos is still undergoing a complete registration review, with a proposed interim decision and then an interim decision to be released by EPA in 2026. NAAA will be monitoring all activity regarding the chlorpyrifos registration review to ensure aerial application remains an option on all labels. NAAA’s recent victory regarding the model EPA uses to estimate the amount of drift from aerial applications will substantially improve the chances of retaining aerial applications of chlorpyrifos.