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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (DTN) -- First came the Herbicide Strategy in 2024, followed by the Insecticide Strategy in 2025 and now, EPA has released its draft Fungicide Strategy with a public comment period that remains open until June 29, 2026.

At 1 p.m. CDT on May 20, the agency will host a public webinar to provide an overview of the draft strategy, discuss how it will be implemented through registration and registration review, and answer the public's questions.

Those interested in participating can register here: https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/….

According to an EPA press release announcing both the webinar and the public comment period, the draft Fungicide Strategy identifies practical, science-based protections fungicide users can adopt to safeguard more than 1,000 federally endangered and threatened species, while preserving the flexibility states, growers and applicators need to keep American agriculture strong.

"It reflects EPA's commitment to meeting its obligations under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) through a more efficient, transparent and protective approach to pesticide registration," the agency stated. "American farmers are the lifeblood of our economy and our nation's food supply. They need a diverse toolbox of innovative agricultural technologies to manage crop disease, prevent resistance and produce the affordable, nutritious food that feeds our country. The draft Fungicide Strategy is designed to ensure those innovative tools remain available and that they are used in ways that protect the environment and endangered species."

STRATEGY TRIFECTA

The draft Fungicide Strategy is the latest in a series of steps taken by EPA since it released the ESA Workplan in 2022. The goal has been to address meeting obligations under both ESA and FIFRA while preventing litigation and incorporating species protections before pesticide registration is approved.

That led to the Herbicide Strategy, finalized in August 2024, which created a points system wherein users of agricultural herbicides would be required to achieve mitigation points for practices intended to reduce the amount exposure to threatened and endangered species and their critical habitat. These practices include measures that reduce off-target movement through runoff and erosion. Spray drift mitigations also were created. Each time the agency registers a new herbicide or when it re-evaluates registered herbicides, the strategy is implemented.

In April 2025, EPA finalized its Insecticide Strategy, which employs a similar set of mitigation steps to protect listed species from exposure to agricultural insecticides.

According to EPA, the draft Fungicide Strategy uses a three-step framework to identify potential population-level impacts to listed species, identify mitigation measures and then determine where those mitigations should apply. The strategy will be used to inform the agency's registration and registration review decisions for conventional agricultural fungicides in the lower 48 states, where 41 million acres are treated annually, according to EPA.

"The draft Fungicide Strategy builds directly on EPA's final Herbicide and Insecticide Strategies, incorporating lessons learned and public comments received on those earlier efforts," EPA stated. "The result is a draft that offers greater flexibility for growers, offers easier implementation for applicators and bolsters continued strong protections for federally listed endangered species."

EPA is accepting public comments on the draft Fungicide Strategy until June 29. The draft strategy and its supporting documents are available in docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2026-2973, found here: https://www.regulations.gov/….

Jason Jenkins can be reached at jason.jenkins@dtn.com

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