An Arkansas judge ruled that a State Plant Board regulation that bars use of the weedkiller dicamba on cotton and soybeans from April 16-Oct. 31 does not apply to six farmers, said DTN/Progressive Farmer. The growers sued the board last year over the ban and wound up in a legal limbo due to a state Supreme Court ruling that state agencies are protected from lawsuits under the doctrine of sovereign immunity.
Grant Ballard, the attorney for the farmers, told DTN/Progressive Farmer that Sixth Judicial Circuit Judge Tm Fox had no choice but to dismiss the lawsuit “but since that violated these gentlemen’s due process rights, he said the order of the board is void for these plaintiffs.” The result is that the six farmers have the right to spray their cotton and soybeans with dicamba during the growing season but no one else can. Farmer Patrick Galloway, one of the plaintiffs, said he expects intense scrutiny of his herbicide use.
“The judge’s decision is not necessarily the final word on the farmers’ access to dicamba this year,” said DTN/Progressive Farmer. The plant board could appeal the decision and ask for a stay of the trial court decision.
Arkansas was the epicenter of dicamba complaints last year. Growers reported 997 instances of crop damage blamed on dicamba sprayed on nearby fields. The makers of the chemical say the chemical is effective against weeds and one of them, Monsanto, blames operator error for crop damage. Some weed scientists say dicamba is too volatile.