The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit granted nearly two-dozen agricultural groups' petitions for review, after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned the use of a popular pesticide on food crops, after facing a tight deadline from the Ninth Circuit and pressure from environmental groups.

In a Nov. 2 opinion, authored by U.S. Court of Appeals Judge David R. Stras for the Eighth Circuit, the court determined the EPA's decision to ban the use of chlorpyrifos on food crops was arbitrary and capricious. Therefore, it granted nearly two-dozen agricultural groups' petitions for review and vacated the previous order.