Protect Tennessee farmers from activist-driven lawsuits related to pesticides

Yahoo

03-04-2025

America's farmers have always been among the most productive and resilient in the world.
Through hard work and generations of experience, farmers provide the food and fiber that power our economy and feed millions.
But modern agriculture hasn't been driven by farmers alone – innovative crop management tools have reduced many of the physical burdens of harvesting crops and made it more efficient to grow corn, wheat, and other staple crops.
These crop management tools are critical to sustaining high yields, with about 90% of cotton and soy acres relying on pesticides and herbicides.
On top of that, they have helped lower costs for both farmers and consumers, preventing up to $10 billion in added food costs every year, a burden that would fall on households across Tennessee.
Simply put, these resources have allowed farmers to grow more with less – less land, less water, and lower input costs. This has made modern agriculture more efficient than ever before.
As a seventh generation West Tennessee farmer, the joys and challenges of farming have been passed down to me.
I also had the fortune to serve three terms representing Tennesseans in Congress, where I carried those rural values to strengthen our food security, trade, and national security.
I have not only seen how important crop management tools are to helping farmers like me meet growing demand but to ensuring that the United States' agriculture industry remains self-reliant.
Our farmers should not have to depend on China or other foreign adversaries for the products that keep our food system stable.
However, access to pesticides and herbicides is increasingly threatened by activist-driven lawsuits in Tennessee and across the country.
Counterpoint: Protect Tennesseans' rights not corporate profits on crop pesticides regulation
Out-of-state trial lawyers, looking for a payout, are pushing cases that could remove key products from the market – not based on science, but on scare tactics and misinformation.
If these efforts succeed, American farmers will be left with fewer options to protect crops and maintain land, forcing us to use less effective and more costly alternatives.
State legislators in Nashville are currently considering tailored legislation (House Bill 809/Senate Bill 527) to prevent these special interests from taking advantage of our judicial system by closing loopholes and recognizing that federally approved labels are the law. It puts pragmatic steps in place to prevent abuses, preserve the rights of Tennesseans, and protect the freedom to farm in our state.
We cannot afford to let opportunistic lawsuits weaken our agriculture industry. Tennessee's farmers deserve certainty, not legal and regulatory chaos.
They need common-sense protections to ensure they can continue to access safe, effective, and domestically produced pesticides and herbicides.
For over 50 years, these products have gone through rigorous scientific review and testing under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's stringent safety standards and have consistently been deemed safe. Since the EPA's approval is the gold standard, farmers should be able to use products the EPA deems safe without fear of politically motivated interferences.
Ultimately, food security is national security.
If we want to keep America's farms strong, our rural communities thriving, and our food supply independent, we must stand against efforts that threaten access to these critical agricultural tools.
Supporting Tennessee agriculture means supporting our farmers, and that starts with ensuring they have the tools they need to do their jobs and the representatives willing to act on their behalf.
Stephen Fincher is a farm owner from Frog Jump in Crockett County and represented the 8th District of Tennessee in Congress from 2011-2017.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee farmers need pesticides to keep food costs down | Opinion