Inside This Issue:

- The Equal Access to Justice Act: A valuable tool for farmers in crop insurance disputes

- Avoiding hidden liabilities with employee housing agreements

- H-2A workers: A solution to farm labor problems?

- Risks of distraint

- General permit now available for pesticides applied to or around water

Excerpt from General permit now available for pesticides applied to or around water...

For decades, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act has provided regulation for the application of pesticides. However, in 2009, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals required the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a separate general permit to specifically address the application of aquatic pesticides as a result of its decision in National Cotton Council, et al., v. EPA. The EPA subsequently developed its pesticide general permit pursuant to the Clean Water Act’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), which regulates pesticide application on or near waters of the United States; however, its effective date was significantly delayed.