Dr. Gold Goes to Washington — Meeting with the EPA about Mancozeb
On May 29, 2025, Dr. Phil Brannen from the Unviersity of Georgia and I met with scientists and economists in the EPA Office of Pesticide Programs to discussion the Mancozeb PID released last August. Below is the email I sent to colleagues to share how this meeting went, which has been distributed via CCE list serves.
Google drive link to the presentation we gave the EPA: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S5EwOwGNeXmFmBsaSaUnzlWOV1JWXcwI/view?usp=sharing
Written May 29, 2025
Posted online June 7, 2025
I am writing to share fresh thoughts on today’s very productive meeting with the EPA Office of Pesticide Programs in Washington to discuss the Mancozeb PID released last august. Please feel free to pass this along to your stakeholders if you think they would be interested in hearing these thoughts. I have attached some photos as well as the deck that we presented to the group. The presentation included a short introduction to the grape diseases that plague the eastern industry, our typical IPM recommendations, and importantly, the Mancozeb survey data.
On Thursday May 29, 2025, my colleague Dr. Phil Brannen (Fruit Pathologist, UGA) and I were graciously hosted by scientists and economists in the EPA Office of Pesticide Programs for a 90min meeting to discuss the viticultural habits of Eastern grape growers. Also in attendance today were two individuals from the USDA Pesticide office. In total, we had 11 people in attendance (5 in person and 6 virtual ones) from either the EPA or the USDA.
The meeting was very positive, productive, and engaging. The EPA and USDA scientists were so attentive, interested, and grateful to learn about our industry. Multiple people who attended expressed gratitude throughout the presentation saying the information was exactly what they needed to make informed decisions regarding mitigation. Key quote from one of the BEAD analysts: “when we first realized the hazard was going to be 45 days we lost hope that mitigation could be made, but after today, well it seems like something could be workable after all.”
I cannot emphasize more strongly how important the survey data was for today’s conversation. To all the growers who filled out the Cornell grape pathology survey, THANK YOU! For a write up on the data, please see my write up in Appellation Cornell. One of the EPA scientists said (paraphrasing) that so often the commentary they receive is non-quantitative, which isn’t actionable for them, but the survey information was so helpful in aiding them to understand viticultural habits, how they are temporally distributed and relative to grape species (vinifera, hybrid, American, muscadine), production target (wine, juice, etc.), trellis style, etc; and how mitigation could actually be feasible if these factors are taken into account.
One thing we learned today was that one of the greatest drivers of risk was from irrigation, and that if a vineyard does not have irrigation, then the hazard goes down from 45 days to 15 days. They very much appreciated hearing that irrigation is uncommon in the Eastern industry (outside of vineyard establishment) and how common the use of closed cab tractors are, since using a closed cab tractor brings hazard risk for mechanized actions down to 0 (e.g. mechanized leaf pulling done in a closed cab tractor yields 0 worker hazard). This, coupled with the high rate of mechanization in the eastern industry, makes me very hopeful for acceptable mitigation moving forward.
The EPA and USDA scientists are good people trying to do a hard job with limited information. They took notes throughout, asked detailed questions, and I really got the feeling that they were “on our side,” looking to enact the an equitable outcome that protects human health while ensuring economic viability. Overall, I anticipate that there will still be reductions to mancozeb allowance in grapevine as well as mitigation requirements that growers will not be thrilled about, but I am optimistic that the full ban will be rolled back. Additionally, one scientist shared that the time horizon for adaption will likely be multiple years, as there is currently a large study being undertaken about residue in a different crop that they are waiting to complete before issuing an Interim Decision. This makes me hopeful that we will have time to aid our growers in preparing for the transition away from heavy Mancozeb use.