U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an opportunity for the public to help shape a national innovation challenge with up to $30 million in total prize funding. The challenge will support practical, cost-effective alternatives to conventional chemical crop desiccation, the common practice of spraying pesticides to dry out crops in the final days before harvest. Grounded in gold standard science, this effort will help American farmers bring in their harvest with fewer conventional chemicals while protecting human health and the environment.
This is a win on both ends of the dinner table. Families get food grown with fewer conventional pesticides. Farmers get new, science-based tools that lower costs, protect their workers, and keep American agriculture strong and competitive in a changing global market.
"American farmers feed our families, and they deserve the best tools to do that job safely," said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. "This challenge backs our farmers, protects the health of American families, and helps modernize our farms. By listening to growers, researchers, and communities, we can cut exposure risks and make America's food supply stronger and more resilient."
American farmers are critical partners in the success of the Make America Healthy Again agenda. This initiative directly supports the Trump Administration's broader effort to protect human health and modernize U.S. agriculture by promoting resilient, efficient, and sustainable farming systems. Acting under its legal authority to regulate pesticides and protect human health and the environment, EPA is putting real funding behind real-world solutions that bring better science to America's farms.
Source : epa.gov