Nicholas Brown, an editor for Farm Law & Tax, recently gave a presentation at the 2024 Southeastern Academy of Legal Studies in Business (SEALSB) in Atlanta, Georgia.  Brown presented on his latest research concerning the EPA's decision to prevent state agricultural agencies from restricting pesticide use under Section 24(c) of FIFRA.

State agricultural agencies have been using Section 24(c) of FIFRA to restrict pesticide uses since 1996.  In 2020, the EPA decided that such state-level restrictions had become excessive.  In a footnote of their now vacated registrations of several post-emergent dicamba products, the EPA declared that states can no longer restrict pesticide use through Section 24(c).  Despite the vacatur, the EPA still lists this position as their official policy on their website.

In light of the Supreme Court overturning Chevron, Brown argued that the EPA lacked authority to maintain such a position.  The paper that Brown presented also received the Journal of Legal Studies in Business (JLSB) Best Paper Award and will be published in the JLSB later this year.

This is the second time that Brown has won this award.  You can read the paper from his first award here.

Brown's presentation from SEALSB can be found here.