2025 brought significant challenges to the domestic sugar industry, especially when it came to pesticide use in farming. At the Malt Barley and Sugarbeet Symposium in Billings, Montana, Dr. Rebecca Larson of the Western Sugar Cooperative led a workshop focused on the science behind pesticides and why educating the American public matters. Her message emphasized that understanding how and why these tools are used is key to informed conversations about modern agriculture.
“I think there’s a lot of confusion over how pesticides work and the impact of farming practices on reducing the risk when using pesticides, so I really advocated for farmers to become more engaged in the public comment process, to get their voices heard and enter some balance into the discussion.”
Earlier this year, the “Make America Healthy Again” movement sparked renewed pushback against the use of pesticides. But thanks to strong leadership across the agriculture industry, the conversation is starting to shift, and the outlook is beginning to turn.
“You know, I’m really happy that there are other folks in the administration trying to strike some balance when it comes to farming. HHS is not the expert on farming practices, and they’re not the experts on pesticides. So, I’m really glad that we have champions like Lee Zeldin and Secretary Brooke Rollins to try and balance that debate a little bit.”
Momentum is building toward a more positive view of pesticide use—but the work isn’t finished yet.
“I’m actually pretty excited for 2026 because EPA, in particular, is really getting back to business. And so, we can start talking about the registration and re-registration process. We can get a lot of product backlog cleared out and focus less on some of these more complicated strategies. So, I see a lot of bright things ahead.”