Meeting with Syngenta on the Atrazine Ecological Exposure Monitoring Program 

(AEMP or AEEMP) – Meeting Summary

October 31, 2013; 11 am – 12:30 pm; S-9100

EPA Attendees:

EFED – Don Brady, Dana Spatz, Frank Farruggia, Rosanna Louie-Juzwiak, Jim Hetrick, Amy 

Blankinship

PRD – Rick Keigwin, Tracy Perry, Avivah Jakob, Monica Wait, Kaitlin Keller

BEAD – Yu-Ting Guilaran, Tim Kiely, Skee Jones, Diann Sims, Bill Phillips, Jonathan Becker, Derek 

Berwald (phone), Bill Chism, Elizabeth Hill

RD – Bo Davis

Syngenta Attendees:

Jerry Wells, Dan Campbell, Todd Barlow, Clint Truman, Mark White, Sunmao Chen, Janis 

McFarland, Alan Hosmer (phone), Richard Brain (phone)

Discussion Topics:

• Based on recent years of monitoring data, 6 AEEMP watersheds (IA-04, IA-05, LA-04, 

MO-07, MO-08, TX-01) exceed currently estimated thresholds for mitigation.

o EPA presented analysis of the data for these 6 watersheds which showed 

atrazine concentration exceedances within the last 4 years of data.

o Syngenta discussed the design of their stewardship, education, and outreach 

plan, recently initiated for these 6 sites.

• For the 3 AEEMP watersheds (MO-01, MO-02, NE-04) with existing stewardship 

programs, more needs to be done in a systematic and sustainable way to reduce 

atrazine runoff and annual fluctuations above the threshold concentration.

o EPA presented analysis of the data for these 3 watersheds based on the last 10 

years of data which showed general declines in atrazine concentrations with 

several unexplained occurrences above the level of concern.

o EPA commented that the existing stewardship/education program has not been 

shown to be effective, sustainable, or transferrable.

• Discussed the need to find systematic and sustainable atrazine mitigation measures, use 

patterns, and best management practices that can be instituted more globally across all 

watersheds vulnerable to atrazine runoff. The 9 watersheds discussed today were 

statistically selected for water monitoring from a much larger pool of vulnerable 

watersheds. EPA’s goal is to find practices that can be expanded across a larger pool of 

atrazine vulnerable watersheds via the product label and without need for the intensive 

man power inherent in Syngenta’s current program. Syngenta can use lessons learned 
from the ongoing stewardship, education, and outreach efforts to inform what might 

work more globally. (Figure 4 from page 8 of the stewardship plan was discussed as a 

concept of something that might be able to be used on a label to inform growers and 

applicators of atrazine best management practices.)

• Discussed that documentation of program implementation and results has been lacking 

for the 3 AEEMP sites to date. This documentation is required to show a causal 

relationship between Syngenta’s stewardship program and reduced atrazine 

concentrations in the watersheds. The group discussed the types of reporting 

requirements used by the TMDL program and how some of those methodologies might 

be transferrable to the AEEMP mitigation program (i.e. quantification of structural 

BMPs, changes to application rate or cropping patterns based on Syngenta’s program, 

survey to growers within the watershed documenting what they are doing differently).

• EPA mentioned the atrazine use questions being distributed among USDA’s Office of 

Pest Management Policy which aim to get additional information about atrazine use and 

agronomic practices.

Follow-up Actions:

Syngenta:

• Institute education program in 6 additional AEEMP watersheds.

• Brainstorm BMPs to reduce atrazine exposure that are applicable on a larger scale to 

other vulnerable watersheds to that could be implemented on a product label.

• Develop an approach for quantifying or providing a qualitative link between stewardship 

program implementation and results.

EPA

• Provide feedback on Syngenta’s approaches for collecting information that may 

demonstrate the causal relationship between BMPs, stewardship, and education with 

the reduction of atrazine transport in surface water.