Agricultural Research Service Develops Long-Term Roadmap for PFAS in U.S. Agriculture

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) announced several key outcomes from a workshop to develop a research roadmap that would lead to short- and long-term science-based solutions to meet the emerging challenges posed by the discovery of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in agricultural soils and waters. PFAS have become increasingly found in the environment, posing significant challenges for producers and farming communities, highlighting the need for agricultural researchers to develop innovative and practical solutions.

ARS, its Center of Excellence for Environmental Monitoring and Mitigation and the University of Maine collaborated recently during a three-day workshop to bring together more than 150 interagency researchers, state partners, university partners and other subject matter experts to engage in discussion and identify key research and innovative solutions that address the top challenges PFAS pose to agriculture, agroecosystems, food systems and farming communities.

Many within the agricultural community are facing new challenges when PFAS chemicals are detected within their farms, resulting in this being a new challenge to farmers’ continued capacity to sustain healthy soil and water on their farms, as well as continued capacity to provide safe and dependable food and fiber supplies to our nation and the world. The suggested long-term roadmap solutions for improving these circumstances include finding new means of detecting when PFAS contamination is a problem, better understanding of how it moves through the agricultural system and innovating new ways to interrupt that movement or remove the chemicals before they can do harm.

Other topics of discussion at the workshop included a strategy for data standardization and integration, how to develop scientific solutions to management of municipal biosolids and ways of effectively removing existing PFAS chemicals from the production environment.

“The meeting’s focus on the gap between PFAS challenges and solutions has empowered and offered hope to ARS, its partners and sister agencies — to address and resolve agriculture-centric problems arising from the use of PFAS in our communities and everyday consumer products,” said ARS Senior Management Advisor Dr. David Knaebel. “The workshop’s overarching impact will assist the U.S. agricultural research community and stakeholders to find creative and innovative ways to mitigate and remediate a rapidly growing PFAS challenge in U.S. agriculture and food systems.”

PFAS is a class of man-made chemicals that have been manufactured and used in a variety of industries around the globe, including in the United States, since the 1940s. The chemical has been placed in the category of “forever chemicals” because they bioaccumulate in animals and plants and do not break down naturally in the animals or plants or in the environment. These chemicals in agricultural landscapes can cause food producers numerous challenges that require innovative scientific solutions from agriculture research, research and developments and strategic partnerships.

“Currently, our data shows that PFAS is an environmental hazard that does not come from agriculture,” said Acting Assistant Administrator Marlen Eve. “But producers need efficient, cost-effective ways to deal with the challenges when it is detected in our agricultural soils and waters.”

Federal and stakeholder workshop attendees plan to move forward with next steps by crafting documents that will communicate solutions to the ag research community — especially in locations where PFAS has critical impacts on agriculture — and to engage in partnerships to realize those research solutions into impactful tools and practices for producers and the agricultural community.

"The University of Maine is pleased to expand our partnership with USDA ARS to find solutions to this national environmental crisis,” said Joan Ferrini-Mundy, vice chancellor for research and innovation for the University of Maine System and president of the University of Maine. “With our collective expertise — supported by the ingenuity and resolve of our researchers and students — we can accelerate breakthroughs in basic and applied science that will result in new tools and strategies for protecting food systems in Maine and beyond. Together, we will also expand each other's research capacities, grant funding efforts and infrastructure, all of which will be essential for mitigating the spread of PFAS and other toxic compounds like it. Thank you to U.S. Senator Susan Collins for securing funding for the center and for her ongoing support of research informing practical solutions for rural farmers and communities."

ARS will continue to expand its PFAS research to address its impact on U.S. agriculture. Future research will ensure that the nation maintains a safe and abundant high quality food supply that is undergirded by sustainable natural resources, the agency said.