Dicamba
After a disastrous dicamba year in 2016, which saw hundreds of thousands of acres of U.S. farmland affected by off-target movement, 2017 was touted as a year of labels and precision application. However, early reports
In the most recent Farm Journal Pulse, farmers talked about dicamba—if they plan to use it, and how. Results show that 44% of farmers plan to apply dicamba or have it applied on their farms.
In an affidavit, Monsanto describes actions by Arkansas Plant Board member Terry Fuller as biased and says it calls into question the fairness of the entire public record in relation to a proposed in-season herbicide ban.
Drift, volatility and other factors could be contributing to the problem
As harvest nears completion farmers, retail and state Extension agents have gotten a better idea of how many acres of soybeans were allegedly damaged by dicamba.
Illegal spraying of a volatile weedkiller may be the cause of unprecedented damage to crops earlier this year, especially for soybean farmers in Arkansas.
The Indiana Pesticide Review Board voted Aug. 30 to place all agricultural-use dicamba products under restricted use for the state. This means only certified applicators will be able to apply the product, if the rule passes a couple more steps.
Arkansas farmers might not have 2018 access to dicamba products in-season for over-the-top use in corn and soybeans if the ban passes a few more steps. The Arkansas State Plant Board recently approved of regulatory changes concerning the product’s potential use in soybeans and cotton.
More than 2,200 complaints with dicamba named as the suspect have been filed in the U.S. since the beginning of the 2017 season. In perspective, if various Extension experts’ estimate of 3.1 million U.S. acres of damage is accurate, that represents 3.5% of planted soybean acres, as of press time.
As complaints about dicamba damage continue to trickle in, farmers, applicators, manufacturing companies and state employees are trying to get a handle on what’s going on.
With complaints rising across the countryside, certain U.S. states are taking action to manage suspected dicamba damage. Restrictions and out and out bans limit farmer and applicator options this season.
Arkansas farmers are waking up Tuesday morning to the first hours of the 120-day dicamba ban that went into effect overnight. Missouri farmers are on hold, and some are hoping the state ban is short-lived.
As farmers prepare for the first year of over-the-top dicamba application, questions cloud the horizon.
A bill that would require increased penalties for off-label herbicide use passed in the Missouri House and moves on to the Senate. The bill could be passed as early as mid-March.
Two men at the center of a fatal fight allegedly over dicamba drift had an ongoing dispute over the issue, according to a local Extension agent familiar with the matter.
Arkansas farmer Mike Wallace, 55, was found shot to death the night of Oct. 28 outside of Leachville, Ark.. Mississippi County Sheriff Dale Cook says the shooting occurred after a dispute over Dicamba herbicide drift that Wallace had claimed damaged his crops. Mourners packed the Monette church for his funeral on Friday, and gathered the evening before to pay their respects to the Wallace family.
Northeast Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel and northwest Tennessee are having problems with dicamba drift. In the Bootheel, four counties have been issued federal search warrants in relation to the illegal herbicide.
Farmers from 10 states are eligible to join a potential class action against Monsanto from dicamba drift damage. States include Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
Manufacturers are seeking 2021 registration, meanwhile off-target damage is reaching high levels. According to experts, Iowa is seeing the most extensive damage since the 1960s when the herbicide was first introduced.
Thursday the Missouri Department of Agriculture changed the Special Local Needs labels for new dicamba products.
Wednesday the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would renew the label for over-the-top use of dicamba in soybeans and cotton through 2020.
John Phipps offers commentary on how to fix the dicamba drift problem for 2018.
About two years. That’s all the time you have to prove to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) you and your neighbors will follow new dicamba formulation label requirements, or the agency could let its approval expire at the end of 2018.
About two years. That’s all the time you have to prove to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) you and your neighbors will follow new dicamba formulation label requirements, or the agency could let its approval expire at the end of 2018.
To date, several dozen states have the green light from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for use of the new dicamba formulations, BASF Engenia and Monsanto XtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology. Monsanto has also licensed its product to DuPont, which is marketing it as FeXapan with VaporGrip.
A southeast Missouri farmer has been indicted on federal charges of illegally applying dicamba and damaging crops in neighboring fields.
EPA announced it approved three dicamba formulations for over-the-top use for five years, 2021 through 2025. The formulations included are BASF’s Engenia, Syngenta’s Tavium and Bayer’s XtendiMax.
