A regional administrator of the U.S. EPA says the insecticide for which the agency expanded registered uses is safer for pollinators than other compounds. Sulfoxaflor is less persistent in the environment and doesn’t last in pollen or in plant nectar, according to Jim Gulliford at EPA’s Region 7 headquarters in Kansas City.
“So it has much less impact on pollinators,” Gulliford told Brownfield Ag News, “and it’s a safer pesticide for all of the approved uses compared to neonics [neonicotinoids].”
The EPA registration now includes, among other crops, alfalfa, corn and soybeans.
