ASA filed comments with EPA this week, reiterating both support for pollinator health and the benefits of neonicotinoid seed treatments to soybean farmers.

ASA states in the letter that soybean farmers pledge to help promote new honey bee health programs to grower members—but have serious concerns about the focus on eliminating crop protection products as the remedy to rebuilding honey bee populations.

“Weappreciate EPA’s science-based decision-makingin evaluatingcrop protection products. As farmers, werecognize ourresponsibilityto stewardship.Much attention has been paid to seed treatment products, which are used on about 30 percent of soybean seed,” the letter states. “ASA cannot support efforts to ban neonicotinoid seed treatment products, which we believe would lead to additional and more costly input applications than the more limited use of seed treatment products.”

Farmers who use seed treatments for soybean seed note the withdrawal of registration for neonicotinoids would harm the sustainability of those who genuinely need this tool.  Seed treatments protect the soybeans from insects in the soil after planting and as the seedlings when they emerge.

“A below-ground insect infestation has no rescue options except replanting, and in the northern growing regions, replanting is not often an option,” ASA states. “And farmers in the south report that since the advent of seed treatments, their need to apply a foliar insecticide on seedlings to 3rd tri-foliate soybeans is eliminated.”

Click here to read the entire letter.