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Gallagher Announces Acquisition of AssuredPartners

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., who owns Gallagher Aerospace, a global leader in insurance brokerage, risk management, and consulting services, has announced a definitive agreement to acquire AssuredPartners insurance broker. The acquisition, valued at $13.45 billion, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, pending customary regulatory approvals.

Gallagher Aerospace and AssuredPartners are both allied members of NAAA.

Gallagher’s Chairman and CEO, J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., expressed high regard for AssuredPartners, emphasizing the alignment between the two companies’ values and goals. He also welcomed AssuredPartners’ 10,900 employees, noting their contribution to the firm’s success.

Randy Larsen, CEO of AssuredPartners, hailed the acquisition as a significant milestone in the company’s growth journey. “With Gallagher, we bring together unparalleled global resources and expert insights,” he said. “This is a team effort, and our employees’ dedication has been central to our success.”

Both companies anticipate that the integration will drive long-term growth and provide substantial value to customers.

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2024 NAAA Ag Aviation Expo Photos Now Available

The 2024 NAAA Ag Aviation Expo was a huge success, with over 1,800 attendees in Fort Worth, Texas, the Lone Star State. The event featured a variety of engaging sessions, including informative educational talks, a live auction, a mock trial, the farewell banquet, and much more! Browse through the 2024 Ag Aviation Expo photos and order prints directly from the links below! You can have your prints shipped to your address or choose to pick them up at a nearby CVS or Walgreens.

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EPA Issues Guidance on Final Application Exclusion Zone (AEZ) Rule

As NAAA reported in October, the EPA has finalized the Application Exclusion Zone (AEZ) rule. To assist applicators with understanding the AEZ rule and how to comply with it, EPA has created new guidance. EPA has also created an FAQ document about the rulemaking, as well as a comparison chart showing the differences between the original 2015 AEZ rule, the 2020 version that never went into effect, and the 2024 final AEZ Rule.

All of these resources as well as more information can be found on EPA’s Worker Protection Standard Application Exclusion Zone webpage. Do not refer to any older AEZ guidance, as there is a risk of being noncompliant due to the various changes in the AEZ rule over its nearly decade long history.

Here are the key points for aerial applicators:

  • The AEZ rule requires applicators to temporarily suspend an application when any person enters the AEZ.
  • The AEZ is a circular area with a horizontal radius of 100 feet that moves with the aircraft as it makes the application.
  • The AEZ exists only during the application.
  • The AEZ extends off the property being treated and includes all easements.
  • The application cannot be resumed until the person leaves the AEZ.
  • There is an exemption for immediate family members – they can remain within the AEZ provided they remain inside enclosed structures or homes during the pesticide application.

NAAA joined with numerous other agricultural organizations to oppose (unsuccessfully) the requirements in the final rule that the AEZ extends off the property, includes easements, and that the application can only be resumed once the person has left the AEZ. NAAA argued that allowing the AEZ to extend off a farm owner’s property or onto an easement means a person can prevent the edges of fields from being treatment simply by refusing to leave the area. NAAA also argued that an applicator should be allowed to resume the application if they deemed it was safe to do so, i.e. the wind direction would prevent spray from reaching the person.

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Give Back! Support NAAREF Today

As the year comes to an end, we hope you will consider a donation to support the National Agricultural Aviation Research & Education Foundation (NAAREF) programs, which includes PAASS and Operation S.A.F.E. NAAREF programs were designed and are succeeding in promoting safety and environmental professionalism to the aerial application industry. Without successful NAAREF educational programs it’s unquestionable that the regulatory requirements facing us would be more rigorous.  
 
NAAREF programs save lives, enhance our industry’s reputation, enable insurance discounts, and help us meet regulatory requirements for certification. Since it first hit the stage in 1998, PAASS—the Professional Aerial Applicators’ Support System—has reduced our accidents by 26% and drift complaints by 26%. This is a phenomenal achievement and PAASS played a major role. 
 
It takes industry donations from individuals such as yourself to ensure top quality and effective NAAREF programs. You can make a tax-deductible donation to NAAREF here.
 
Did you know that you can also make a donation directly from your retirement account to NAAREF? When you reach age 73*, you’re required to withdraw a certain amount of money from your retirement accounts each year. Talk to your tax advisor for the most up-to-date information regarding a required minimum distribution (RMD) that you can donate to NAAREF. The RMD is an attractive way for donors to make a significant charitable gift directly from their IRA to a charity through a qualified charitable contribution (QCD) while avoiding taxable income. QCD is a direct transfer of funds from your IRA payable to a qualified charity, such as NAAREF. You can also bequeath charitable funds to NAAREF through your will or trust. Please talk to your financial advisor and/or legal consultant about these options.
 
With government support no longer available, we have lost 14% of the revenue needed to offer NAAREF programs. Pesticide manufacturing companies’ consolidation has also resulted in a loss of NAAREF sponsorship revenue. We need to increase the amount of charitable donations from individuals and companies such as yourself in order to make up for the loss and to not suffer a reduction in quality of PAASS. 
 
Please donate now to help support NAAREF programs and cultivate education, safety, and technology advancements in the industry. They save lives, reduce drift incidents, demonstrate the professionalism of the aerial application industry, and can help stave off additional government regulations. 

*Beginning in 2023, the SECURE 2.0 Act raised the age that you must begin taking RMDs to age 73. If you reached age 72 in 2023, the required beginning date for your first RMD is April 1, 2025, for 2024.

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Give the Gift of Aerial Application: Agriculture’s Air Force: 100 Years of Aerial Application Book

Agriculture’s Air Force: 100 Years of Aerial Application, the industry’s 100th-anniversary book, is a great gift for aviation enthusiasts and those who want to learn more about a century of technological evolution protecting farms, forests, and public health by aircraft. 

The hard-copy book chronicles the agricultural aviation industry’s growth from its birth in 1921 through the boom times after World War II, and on to today’s modern era of high-tech aerial application, containing 268 pages of historical information, personal stories, and photos. This comprehensive book takes readers on a captivating flight through history, technology, and into the intersection of agriculture and aviation that is aerial application. If you haven’t ordered a book yet, it will make a great gift under the Christmas tree. Also, consider gifting a copy to your local library or school library for future generations to learn about the industry. Order your copy today here.

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EPA Releases Updated Proposed Surface Water Mitigations for Atrazine to Protect Endangered Species

Last week EPA released a proposal with updated mitigations for atrazine. The proposed mitigations are intended to protect endangered species and other non-target species from surface water runoff of atrazine. The updated mitigation proposal uses the mitigation menu and point system from EPA’s final Herbicide Strategy.

The degree of mitigations required are based on the level of atrazine found within a watershed. The proposed mitigation document reflects the revised level of atrazine in water that is expected to hurt non-target species, which is a 60-day average of 9.7 ug of atrazine per liter of water. If the 60 average is above 45.4 ug of atrazine per liter of water, even more mitigations are required. The proposed mitigations also include a prohibition of atrazine applications during rain or when soils are saturated for all atrazine applications, regardless of watershed. A reduction in the maximum amount of atrazine allowed to be applied annually is also proposed.

None of the proposed mitigations in the updated document for atrazine deal with drift, nor are there any proposed restrictions or prohibitions specific to aerial applications.

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes to Protect Monarch Butterfly

On Tuesday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed that the monarch butterfly be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Under the rules for species listed as threatened, as opposed to the more serious endangered, rules are more flexible and can better allow USFWS to balance monarch butterfly conservation efforts with economic impacts. Specific to pesticides, the USFWS listing the monarch butterfly as threatened means EPA would need to consider its protection, along with all other ESA listed species, when registering and re-registering pesticides. NAAA will monitor this listing as well as all other ESA related activity from EPA to ensure pesticides can be aerially applied.

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Renew Your 2025 NAAA Membership Today

Thank you for your support as a 2024 member of NAAA. We request your continued support by renewing your NAAA membership for 2025 today. While you have been busy aiding farmers to produce a safe, affordable, and abundant supply of food, fiber, and bioenergy, NAAA has been busy making sure low-altitude airspace is safe for your aerial application business to operate, as well as ensuring that you have the pesticide products you need to do your job. Several of NAAA’s accomplishments this year, on your behalf and to ensure your success, include:

  • NAAA is now offering health and life insurance options for members. More details available here.
  • NAAA worked to secure permission from the FAA to use frequency 122.925 for radio communications between agricultural aircraft to operate safely.
  • NAAA lobbied for the FAA Reauthorization Bill to include NAAA language ensuring the safety of manned aircraft from drone activity in BVLOS airspace and language establishing a deadline to the FAA to promulgate tower marking and logging.
  • Since 2017, NAAA has submitted over 300 comments to the EPA to keep aerial applications on pesticide labels with great success enabling you to keep a deep inventory of pesticide tools without unnecessary and burdensome restrictions.
  • NAAA’s 2024 articles appearing in Farm Journal publications, along with the “Aerial Application: Above All Forms of Crop Care” ad campaign and accompanying web search tool identifying member businesses, have been widely circulated to hundreds of thousands of potential aerial application users.
  • NAAA and NAAREF have grown the C-PAASS certification learning center to include online learning for aerial applicators who want to augment their professionalism and be recognized and rewarded by their insurance providers, pesticide manufacturers, regulators, and customers. Learn more at https://education.agaviation.org/.
  • New membership database, allowing for automatic renewal and single invoicing of all memberships at your operation or company. Contact information@agaviation.org for further details.

In 2025, you will continue to receive ongoing benefits such as discounts for attending or exhibiting at the Ag Aviation Expo, connect with members through the print and online NAAA Membership Directory and receive Association publications, eNewsletters, social media briefings and substantive web content at AgAviation.org. Log into your account on our website to pay your 2025 NAAA membership invoice. Details at AgAviation.org/membership.

Please make it a priority to renew your NAAA membership—the payoff far exceeds what you will spend in dues in the form of effective advocacy that reduces regulation and taxes affecting your aerial application business and trade association membership dues are tax deductible.

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In Case You Missed Last Week’s NAAA eNewsletter

Click here for the December 5, 2024 eNewsletter to read:

  • NAAA’s Successful in Advocating DOT Proposed Rule Allowing Aerial Application Operations to Transport Certain Quantities of Jet A Without HazMat Endorsement
  • EPA Cancels Chlorpyrifos Use on All but Eleven Crops
  • Give Back! Support NAAREF Today
  • After Two Decades of NAAA Advocacy, FAA Proposes Requirements for Marking and Logging Locations of Meteorological Towers 
  • How Would You Rate the 2024 NAAA Ag Aviation Expo? Please Tell Us by Dec. 6!
  • Give the Gift of Aerial Application: Agriculture’s Air Force: 100 Years of Aerial Application Book
  • 2025 NAAA Membership Renewal Now Open

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