Federal Appeals Court Orders EPA to Act On Chlorpyrifos Ban

The San Francisco based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to act on a ban on chlorpyrifos in 60 days. Some farmers may not recognize the chemical name chlorpyrifos but know the brand name Lorsban. Lorsban has been on the market for a long time. With traited corn and the development of the pyrethroid class of insecticides Lorsban was not used by corn and soybean farmers very much anymore. That is until soybean aphids began to develop resistance to pyrethroids.

If Lorsban is taken off the market soybean farmers will not have any approved insecticides to control soybean aphids. I have not had to spray my soybeans for aphids the last 4 years. Before that my fields reached the threshold treatment levels every year. Maybe there are natural predators or diseases that are helping to control soybean aphids? However, it is concerning that if I do need to control soybean aphids in my soybean field there would be no effective insecticides available?