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Committee adopts substitute to update rules for plant biostimulants and "beneficial substances"
Summary
The Senate Agriculture Committee adopted committee substitute 20 25 to modernize regulatory language for products classified as beneficial substances, add a state definition for plant biostimulants aligned with national standards, and give the Department of Agriculture authority to adopt labeling requirements.
The Senate Agriculture Committee adopted committee substitute 20 25 to modernize state regulatory language for certain agricultural products and to give the Department of Agriculture authority to adopt labeling rules for plant biostimulants.
Senator Barry, who introduced the substitute, said the change was requested by both industry and regulators. “20 25 ... just kinda modernizes some language in there. It's something that both industry and the regulators asked for. It just, again, brings it up to date,” Senator Barry said.
The substitute replaces the term "amending ingredient" with the broader category "beneficial substance," adds a statutory definition of "plant biostimulant" and authorizes the Department of Agriculture to adopt labeling requirements for plant biostimulants to match current national standards. John Gordon Campbell described the market for those products as growing and offered examples: “plant biostimulant is a growing sector of the of the market, about a $3,000,000,000 a year industry ... An example would be humic acid, fulvic acid, microbial seaweed,” Campbell said. He told committee members the classification would distinguish these products from fertilizers and pesticides and help ensure legitimate products reach farmers.
Committee members asked for practical examples and labels; Campbell said he would bring product labels to a future meeting. Senator Hill asked about distinctions among categories such as plant amendments and soil amendments; Campbell said classification depends on the product and how it is applied.
A motion to adopt the committee substitute was moved by Senator Younger and carried. A subsequent motion to accept and move the bill also carried and the committee agreed to report the measure out.
The substitute tasks the Department of Agriculture with rulemaking to set labeling standards consistent with national norms; the transcript references the statutory text by line numbers for the definition and labeling authority but does not state a schedule for rulemaking or an effective date.
