The EPA approved a low-drift formulation by Monsanto of the weedkiller dicamba for use on GE soybeans and cotton during the growing season. Farmers reported dicamba damage to 42,000 acres of crops this year due to use of unapproved, higher-volatility versions of the herbicide on neighboring farms.
The new formulation of dicamba will go into use in 2017. Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, already has approval for sale of soybean and cotton strains genetically engineered to tolerate spraying with dicamba. It estimates more than 15 million acres will be planted with the dicamba-resistant soybean seeds and more than 3 million acres of cotton in the coming year–or roughly one-third of total U.S. plantings of the two crops.
Growers are interested in dicamba-tolerant crops because of the spread of weeds that have developed resistance to glyphosate, the most widely used weedkiller in the world. The environmental group Center for Biological Diversity said the projected massive increase in dicamba use, to more than 25 million pounds a year, “will undoubtedly harm our nation’s most imperiled plants and animals. … We need to get off the pesticide treadmill.”