"US ag regulations could create lost opportunities"
Scholl spoke May 24 in a Washington, D.C., Farm Foundation forum on the future of food and agriculture regulation. Discussed during the forum was the Trump administration's Reducing regulation, in agriculture and elsewhere, which has been a priority for the Trump administration.
President Trump signed an executive order April 24 directing the USDA to identify and eliminate potentially unnecessary regulations that "hurt farmers and rural communities."
In assessing a regulation, the USDA will ask, "Is it worth it? Do the costs outweigh the benefits," she said. "What are the real costs? What are the real benefits?"
Scholl, who has an extensive agribusiness background, said regulation has affected ag in many ways, including pushing up the cost and development time of genetics in ag chemicals.
In 2000, developing and releasing a chemical with "an active ingredient" took an average of $184 million and about nine years. Today, doing so takes $284 million and about 11 years, he said.
"The majority of that (increase) requires from regulatory and environmental constraints that have been put on. I'm not saying they've been wrong, I'm just saying those are things that added to the cost," Scholl said.
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