Farmers call on Congress to reaffirm labeling requirements

May 29, 2025 | Bethany Baratta

The Iowa Soybean Association joined 364 agricultural and related groups calling on Congress to enact a bipartisan bill needed to keep pesticides available to farmers.

The Agricultural Labeling Uniformity Act would reaffirm and clarify long-standing provisions in federal pesticide law regarding labeling requirements.

Since the 1970s, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) has contained provisions that prevent states from imposing labeling requirements in addition to or different from federal requirements.

However, the groups noted in a letter to Congress, some states have taken their role too far, not adhering to the law.

“Growers and users need reaffirmation from Congress that while states have authority to regulate the sale and use of pesticides within their jurisdiction, they cannot impose labeling or packaging requirements in addition or different from the scientific conclusions of the EPA,” the groups say.

The Act would prevent states from adopting inconsistent labeling or packaging the groups say would disrupt commerce and access to these vital tools. The letter was supported by groups representing golf course superintendents, mint growers, public land managers, farmers, scientists and others.

“Not only does FIFRA prohibit states from requiring labels that conflict with federal findings, but also labels are not allowed to be ‘false or misleading.’ If a state requires a product to be labeled in contradiction to scientific findings from federal regulators, it places manufacturers in a no-win situation; either disregard a state labeling requirement or put a false and misleading label on a product, contradicting EPA findings and violating federal law. This situation is not sustainable,” says Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association (ASA) and a soybean farmer from Kentucky.

Supporting the enactment of the Agriculture Labeling Uniformity Act, which was introduced last Congress by Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Jim Costa (D-CA), is the most recent effort farm groups have pursued to bring clarity to pesticide labeling. Earlier this month, 12 national and state agricultural groups filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to hear a case on whether states could require glyphosate to carry a cancer warning label despite repeated findings from EPA and other regulators around the globe that it is not a carcinogen, according to the American Soybean Association.

In March, nearly 300 groups supported a petition from several state attorneys general to conduct clarifying rulemaking at EPA on pesticide labels. Many groups also have been supporting state legislative efforts that reaffirm federal labeling law, including recent state laws passed in Georgia and North Dakota.

“We’re really taking an ‘all the above’ approach to bring certainty to this issue,” Ragland says. “Unless there is clarity, we’re worried manufacturers could exit the market and leave farmers without much-needed tools needed to protect crops and provide affordable food for consumers.”

Read the letter here.

Written by Bethany Baratta.

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