Rural Lawmakers Reject Polis Backed Pesticide Restrictions

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics

A proposal to limit the use of neonicotinoid-coated crop seeds collapsed in the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee last week, as rural lawmakers, including two Democrats, joined Republicans to reject what they called an expensive, impractical mandate on farmers.

Senate Bill 65 would have required farmers to obtain permission from third-party evaluators before using crop seeds coated with neonicotinoid pesticides, also known as neonics.

But the committee’s rural lawmakers, including two Democrats, weren’t persuaded that the program sponsored by Democratic Sens. Katie Wallace of Longmont and Cathy Kipp of Fort Collins was the right step, killing the bill in a 2-5 vote last week.

Wallace claimed farmers are paying for a seed they don’t need. But farmers and advocates from the agriculture industry told the committee that forcing them into the program will result in poor crop yields and, worse, force already-narrow profit margins into the red.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture also took heat from lawmakers, who claimed the department didn’t work with farmers or seek a middle ground.

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