By Ryan Hanrahan
Progressive Farmer’s Chris Clayton reported that “invoking the Defense Production Act, President Donald Trump on Wednesday designated glyphosate-based herbicides and elemental phosphorus as critical to national defense and ordered Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to prioritize and secure domestic supplies.”
“The order also grants legal immunity to domestic producers that comply with federal directives and gives USDA authority to direct production and control distribution if necessary,” Clayton reported. “Citing the Defense Production Act, Trump declared phosphorus and glyphosate products are essential not only for agriculture but also for military readiness as well. The threat of scarcity for either phosphorus or glyphosate would leave the U.S. vulnerable.”
“At USDA, Rollins will consult with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and work to ‘determine the proper nationwide priorities and allocation of all the materials, services, and facilities necessary to ensure a continued and adequate supply of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides,'” Clayton reported. “Rollins will issue the rules and orders necessary to implement the order.”
“The order also tells Rollins to protect domestic suppliers from going out of business, but also shielding those companies from regulatory or financial pressures,” Clayton reported. “Rollins also should ensure any rule or regulation ‘does not place the corporate viability of any domestic producer of elemental phosphorus or glyphosate-based herbicides at risk.'”
Source : illinois.edu