The world’s largest seed company, Monsanto, is offering a 55 percent rebate to cotton and soybean growers who buy its weedkiller, dicamba, for 2018 crops, said Reuters. Weed specialists said the cash-back offer could persuade growers to buy the herbicide, and the pricey GE seeds that are paired with it, despite stricter EPA rules on who can apply the herbicide and when it can be used.
Monsanto has said it anticipates a doubling, to 40 million acres, in plantings of its dicamba-tolerant soybeans next spring. The herbicide is a powerful tool for farmers who face invasive weeds that have developed resistance to other weedkillers. Reuters said the low-volatility formulation of dicamba approved by EPA for soybeans costs around $11 an acre and Monsanto offers $6 an acre in cash back to farmers who plant Monsanto soybeans. “I think they’re trying to buy more acres,” an Illinois farmer told Reuters. DuPont and BASF also sell low-volatility dicamba.
Growers complained that 3.1 million acres of soybeans were damaged by dicamba this year, so a handful of states are considering cut-off dates for use of dicamba to reduce the risk of damage to neighboring fields. Some weed experts say dicamba can evaporate from the plants where it was sprayed and move into nearby fields with susceptible crops. Monsanto says errors in application are to blame.