On May 1, the Environmental Protection Agency released its draft fungicide strategy for public comment. The strategy document can be found at  https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EPA-HQ-OPP-2026-2973.

The fungicide strategy outlines how the EPA plans to mitigate potential harmful effects to federally listed endangered and threatened species or their critical habitat from off-target pesticide exposure in accordance with the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

“Providing a wide range of perspectives to the EPA through the public comment process allows for development of a more practical and comprehensive final strategy,” says Madeleine Smith, North Dakota State University Extension pesticide specialist.

Smith says mitigations from the release of the EPA’s final insecticide and herbicide strategies are already making their way onto pesticide labels, the most recent of which included the new labels for Engenia, Tavium and Stryax, all used for weed control in soybeans and cotton.

The public comment period is open until June 29, and comments can be submitted at https://www.regulations.gov/.

For more information, the EPA will host a public webinar on May 20 at 1 p.m. CT to provide an overview of the strategy and discuss the aspects of implementation. Registration for the webinar is required and is available at https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/event/96ee8669-31bb-4904-af77-4b790c6186b0@88b378b3-6748-4867-acf9-76aacbeca6a7.

The final fungicide strategy is expected to be released by the EPA by November 2026.

For more information about pesticide use, contact Smith or visit ndsu.ag/pesticides-26.

NDSU Agriculture Communication – May 14, 2026

Source: Madeleine Smith, 701-231-5525, madeleine.smith@ndsu.edu

Editor: Dominic Erickson, 701-231-5546, dominic.erickson@ndsu.edu