Rep. Simpson Leading on Securing American Agriculture
In July, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins rolled out a plan to safeguard America’s food supply and established American agriculture as a crucial component of national security and a high priority for President Trump’s administration. Following in the footsteps of the National Farm Security Action Plan, House Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson has included a commonsense provision in the Fiscal Year 2026 Interior and Environment appropriations bill that would go a long way toward establishing certainty for American farmers, ranchers, and agriculture industry. At a time when foreign adversaries, like the Chinese Communist Party, are threatening to disrupt our fundamental national and food security, we applaud Congressman Simpson for helping champion a practical fix to a challenging problem.
Consistent Environmental Standards Are Under Attack
Federal labeling requirements for any agricultural products are regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The law establishes the labeling requirements for fertilizer and pesticides used in the U.S. Under that statute, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is entrusted with the responsibility to test chemicals and pesticides to ensure that they are safe. According to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, “FIFRA requires that federal regulations for pesticide labels pre-empt state, local, and tribal regulations. Use of a pesticide product in a manner inconsistent with its label is prohibited.”
In recent years, some states have attempted to increase regulations beyond the scientific standards adopted by Environmental Protection Agency scientists. The result has been a patchwork of regulations and contradictory statues that undermine the EPA’s authority. In the meantime, unregulated Chinese farm products are growing rapidly and now represent 70% of the market. States and federal lawmakers are now working to ensure consistent science-based regulations are in place.
Appropriations Provision Is a Practical Fix to Ensure Consistency
Section 453 of the FY26 Interior and Environment appropriations bill resolves the patchwork regulatory problem by prohibiting the EPA from approving warning labels on pesticides that are inconsistent with “a human health assessment performed pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.); or (b) a carcinogenicity classification for a pesticide.” In other words, it simply states that the EPA shall not act out of concert with its own scientific findings. According to Rep. Simpson, “The language ensures that we do not have a patchwork of state labeling requirements … It ensures that one state is not establishing the label for the rest of the states.” Hundreds of American agricultural groups have specifically asked for this policy, telling Congress that “without access to safe, effective pesticides regulated with the best available science, food prices for American families will rise significantly and our ability to protect public health, infrastructure, and our environment will be greatly diminished.”
Offshoring Critical Components of the Food Supply Chain Will Weaken Our Food Security
In a 2024 House Agriculture Committee hearing on the threat posed to American agriculture from the Chinese Communist Party, Indiana farmer and former Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture Kip Tom testified that the growing reliance on China for crop protection products “is a national security threat to the United States and our allies.” A large driver of offshoring such a key agricultural component to foreign adversarial nations like China is the overwhelming regulatory burden in the United States. Former Ambassador Tom worries about “offshoring too much of our supply chain that’s used to produce food, fiber and energy and the other many products that come from agriculture.” Noting that glyphosate – a component critical to modern American agriculture – is increasingly being offshored to China, Tom warns that simultaneously weakening our domestic agricultural manufacturing industry while increasing reliance on Chinese manufacturers could be catastrophic if geopolitical tensions then led to that supply being cut off.
We Urge Congress to Take Action to Protect America’s Food Producers
The Protecting America Initiative has previously applauded policymakers in North Dakota and Georgia for enacting protections for U.S. agricultural manufacturers who are in compliance with EPA standards. Lawmakers at the federal level can help ensure consistent, evidence-based rules by aligning EPA regulations with its own scientific findings. President Trump and Secretary Rollins have issued the call to protect America’s food supply, and this commonsense provision from Rep. Simpson will help America’s food producers continue feeding our country.