The bicameral Arkansas Legislative Council approved a ban on spraying the weedkiller dicamba on cotton and soybeans from April 16-Oct. 31 in hopes of preventing damage to neighboring crops. By essentially banning the herbicide for the growing season, Arkansas is at the forefront of several states that set stricter rules on the chemical than mandated by the EPA, which itself tightened its rules on when and how the weedkiller can be used.
Arkansas state officials responded to nearly 1,000 complaints of damage by dicamba, with the State Plant Board proposing the growing-season ban and the legislative council, the main governing body when the legislature is not in session, approving the ban on Friday. The plant board said the rule would take effect 10 days after it was filed with the secretary of state. The restrictions do not apply to use of dicamba, an herbicide developed decades ago, on pasture, rangeland and ornamental plants, by direct injection in forestry, or home use.
Monsanto, which genetically modified strains of cotton and soybeans to withstand doses of dicamba, is challenging the Arkansas ban in court. “A Pulaski County judge is holding a hearing next month in the lawsuit brought by Monsanto, a maker of dicamba that is trying prevent the herbicide ban from taking effect,” said The Associated Press. The AP said “the biggest question in the coming months is how soon the issue returns to the Legislature.”
Farmers have embraced the new GMO strains and dicamba as tools against invasive weeds that have developed resistance to other herbicides. The Legislative Council “heard from sharply divided farmers” before it approved the ban. Monsanto says applicator error is to blame for crop damage in most cases. Some weed experts say dicamba at times evaporates from where it was sprayed and wafts onto nearby, susceptible crops.
To read the Arkansas rule on dicamba, click here.