When the 2018 Farm Bill passed, hemp, defined therein as the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant with a delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3% on a dry weight basis, was removed from the Controlled Substances Act. As a result, interest in hemp production has increased, along with the need to make pesticides available for the hemp industry.

The EPA recently received applications to add hemp as a new use to the labeling for 10 currently registered pesticide products. The EPA provided notice that it had received these applications and subsequently provided an opportunity for public comment on adding hemp to the labels. The only changes to the labeling for these products will be the addition of hemp. NAAA commented on the proposal. Our comments can be found here.

NAAA reviewed the 10 products that have requested to add hemp as a use and found that seven of them had labels that allowed for aerial application, while the remaining three did not. NAAA submitted comments to the EPA that reminded the agency of the many benefits of aerial application and importance of allowing hemp growers to take advantage of those benefits. The comments iterated the importance of maintaining aerial application on the label for the seven products that allowed it when hemp is added as a new use.

NAAA further suggested that aerial application be added to the labels for the three other products. NAAA pointed out one of the three products has an active ingredient that is also in one of the seven products that do allow aerial application, and that if aerial application is safe for one product, it should be for another with the same active ingredient. For the two remaining products, NAAA pointed out that both listed extracts from plants as their active ingredients; one had oil extracts from several edible plants, and the other an extract from a plant the EPA had determined had no adverse effects to humans or the environment.