With more than 500 complaints of weedkiller misuse from Arkansas farmers, Gov. Asa Hutchinson approved an 120-day ban on use of the herbicide dicamba on row crops and forwarded the emergency step to the state’s Legislative Council for a final decision. Hutchinson also assented to increasing the fine for egregious misuse of herbicides to a maximum of $25,000 and sent it to the council as well.
“The volume of complaints do justify emergency action,” Hutchinson wrote in a letter to state agriculture officials. Complaints of damage to crops have skyrocketed this year due to dicamba drift from neighboring fields. In many cases, growers are accused of illegally spraying volatile formulations of dicamba, rather than the drift-resistant and less volatile mixes approved by EPA for dicamba-tolerant GE soybeans and cotton. Invasive and fast-growing weeds such as Palmer amaranth are developing resistance to other weed killers, making dicamba an option for growers.
In the letter, Hutchinson asked agriculture officials to convene a task force to investigate problems with dicamba and to make longer-term recommendations about the chemical. “This debate will continue into future planting seasons,” said the governor. Legislators enacted a law allowing $25,000 for repeat violators of pesticide rules – similar to the rule proposed by the state plant board – but it will not take effect until Aug. 1. The Legislative Council is scheduled to meet July 21, said DTN.