JACKSON, Tenn. – Endangered Species Act (ESA) requirements on pesticide labels are putting applicators in a tough spot. They’re responsible for verifying compliance before spraying, but some of the information they need lives on the farm. Many applicators don’t have visibility into the practices growers are using to meet runoff mitigation point requirements.
Acre Blitz is solving this with two products that work together: the ESA Field Exchange, where growers document their field-level mitigations, and the ESA Check API, which delivers that data to applicators, retailers, cooperatives, and crop consultants at the moment they need it.
“The compliance burden falls on whoever pulls the trigger, but the practices that earn mitigation points are controlled by the grower,” says Kim Brown, co-founder of Acre Blitz. “We built these tools so both sides have access to the same information. Growers document once, applicators can verify in seconds, and everyone has a record.”
The Problem
EPA’s ESA requirements now appear on more pesticide labels. Some products reference the EPA’s Mitigation Menu and Bulletins Live! Two. Others, like Enlist herbicides, have their own label-specific systems. Requirements vary by product, location, and field characteristics. The coastal states have National Marines Fisheries Service (NMFS) limitations to contend with, which now apply to more than 200 pesticide labels.
For growers, figuring out what’s required means pulling data from USDA’s Web Soil Survey, EPA’s Mitigation Menu, Bulletins Live! Two, and individual pesticide labels. Most don’t have time, so they ask their trusted advisor for help.
How It Works
Growers sign up for the ESA Field Exchange for free at acreblitz.com/esa-field-exchange. They bulk import fields from shapefiles, add products they commonly apply, and the program automatically pulls county-level mitigation points, soil types, hydrologic zone, and slope. Available runoff mitigation points are assigned automatically.
Growers can see which fields meet point requirements and which need additional practices like cover crops, non-irrigated land, or buffer strips. The platform generates runoff mitigation reports pre-filled with their data. Growers choose which fields to share via the ESA Check API, making their documented mitigations visible to their trusted advisors.
Retailers, cooperatives, and crop consultants can also use the ESA Field Exchange as a free tool to help growers get set up, instead of staff spending hours going through the ESA flowchart for every field.
“Trusted advisors want to help their growers, but nobody has time to do the ESA flowchart for every field,” says Brown. “The Field Exchange gives them a way to help their customers without adding more work to their own plate.”
The time savings compound when trusted advisors integrate the ESA Check API into their existing software. The API returns whether a product has limitations, how many points are required, the mitigations the grower has documented, and a white-labeled portal for compliance reports. If the grower has enrolled their field, the applicator sees exactly what practices are in place. No phone calls, no guessing.
Availability
The ESA Field Exchange is free for growers. Retailers, cooperatives, crop consultants, and ag-tech platforms can integrate the ESA Check API into their existing workflows.
SOURCE: Corey Fransen, Co-Founder, Acre Blitz
MEDIA CONTACT: Corey Fransen, cfransen@acreblitz.com, (507) 236-7376
ABOUT ACRE BLITZ: Acre Blitz provides ESA compliance infrastructure for agriculture, including the ESA Field Exchange for grower mitigation tracking and the ESA Check API for platform integration. Learn more at acreblitz.com.