The Arkansas State Plant Board could decide as early as next Thursday to severely restrict use of the weedkiller dicamba on soybeans and cotton in 2018, reports Farm Journal. The proposal to cut off use of dicamba after April 15, prompted by hundreds of complaints of crop damage by the herbicide, was approved by the board’s pesticide committee during a meeting in Jonesboro and forwarded to the board for a vote at its quarterly meeting on Sept 21.
If approved by the plant board, the controls would go through the state’s rulemaking procedure, which includes review by the governor and the Arkansas Legislative Council, a spokeswoman told Farm Journal. Arkansas declared an emergency ban on July 11 on use of dicamba on field crops because of complaints the weedkiller was damaging neighboring crops. At present, 966 complaints have been filed with the plant board.
The 2018 limits were proposed by a task force convened at the request of Gov Asa Hutchison to make long-range recommendations on dicamba. Faced by invasive weeds that are resistant to herbicides such as glyphosate, growers have embraced the weedkiller and varieties of cotton and soybeans genetically modified to withstand it.
Shawn Peebles, a member of the task force, told Farm Journal, “We didn’t recommend a ban forever, but a ban for the 2018 crop to perform more testing.” The April 15 cutoff was the consensus recommendation of three-quarters of the task force membership.
Monsanto, which sells the GE seeds and low-volatility formulations of dicamba, has criticized the recommendation as unfair and not backed by evidence. It says low-volatility dicamba is a “tremendous success” and says strict adherence to usage guidelines would eliminate complaints about damage.
Iowa ag leaders are investigating about 100 complaints of dicamba damage on 150,000 acres, said the Des Moines Register. “At issue is whether the new dicamba products stay where they’re sprayed — or move to neighboring fields, where they can damage non-resistant crops, fruits and vegetables, trees and flowers.” Some university weed experts say the question is whether dicamba turns into a vapor after it is sprayed on to crops and moves like a fog to other fields. The EPA is considering whether to put new restrictions on dicamba.