Arkansas
Judicial panel to decide whether to centralize dicamba lawsuits
The little-known U.S. Judicial Panel on Mulitdistrict Litigation is scheduled to hear arguments on Jan. 25 in Miami on one of the hottest issues in agriculture — claims of crop damage due to the weedkiller dicamba, said the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The panel will decide whether to centralize more than a dozen lawsuits filed in four states against the makers of dicamba, which would mean one court would oversee the cases.
Arkansas board sticks to April 16 cutoff of dicamba on cotton and soybeans
The Arkansas State Plant Board voted for the second time on dicamba regulations and had the same answer: a ban from April 16 to Oct. 31 on use of the weedkiller on cotton and soybeans, said the Associated Press.
Monsanto asks Arkansas court to ban a ban on dicamba
Faced by hundreds of complaints of crops damaged by dicamba, the Arkansas Plant Board proposed a ban on use of the weedkiller on soybeans and cotton for most of the 2018 growing season.
North Dakota is fourth state to write tougher dicamba rules
State agriculture commissioner Doug Goehring announced “North Dakota-specific” rules on use of the weedkiller dicamba on GE soybeans in the new crop year. They include a ban on spraying when temperatures top 85 degrees and a total cutoff of dicamba use after June 30.
Lawsuit challenges rehab labor in chicken plants
A class-action lawsuit in Arkansas challenges as unconstitutional two drug- and alcohol-rehabilitation programs that require participants to work for free at chicken processing plants and a plastic manufacturing plant, reports Reveal, from the Center from Investigative Reporting. The programs are populated by defendants who are sent to rehab as an alternative to imprisonment.
Missouri limits use of BASF’s dicamba weedkiller
After consulting growers, researchers and chemical companies, the Missouri Agriculture Department said it will ban use of BASF's dicamba weedkiller on cotton and soybeans after June 1 in 10 southeastern counties and in the rest of the state after July 15 in order to prevent damage to neighboring crops. The state agency said it expects to issue similar limits for Monsanto and DuPont versions of the herbicide.
EPA puts additional restrictions on when and how dicamba is used
Following an explosion of complaints about crop damage by the weedkiller dicamba, the EPA strengthened its rules for spraying the herbicide onto genetically modified cotton and soybeans. The new guidelines require special training of applicators before they can spray dicamba, limit the time of day when it can be used and bar spraying when winds exceed 10 miles an hour, a reduction from the 15 mph limit this year.
Scientists skip Monsanto summit on dicamba
In an effort to quell complaints about the weedkiller dicamba, Monsanto invited dozens of weed scientists to a summit in St. Louis, “but many have declined, threatening the company’s efforts to convince regulators the product is safe to use,” said Reuters. The EPA is considering additional rules governing how and when the herbicide can be sprayed onto strains of cotton and soybeans genetically modified to tolerate the chemical.
Arkansas proposes ban on row-crop use of dicamba for 2018
Spurred by nearly 1,000 complaints of crop damage from dicamba this summer, the Arkansas State Plant Board has proposed a ban on using the weedkiller on cotton and soybeans from April 16 to Oct. 31 — effectively the entire growing season. The EPA also is considering restrictions on the use of dicamba, which was touted as a new tool against invasive weeds resistant to other herbicides but has also been blamed for damaging more than 3 million acres of soybeans nationwide.
Dicamba debacle spreads, Illinois sees more crop damage
The 2017 growing season was supposed to be the year of “spotless” soybean fields after Monsanto introduced a new generation of soybeans – the largest single biotechnology launch in the company’s history. The new soybeans can tolerate the use of dicamba, a traditional herbicide used on corn that spreads easily and has historically harmed soybeans. But the Illinois Department of Agriculture has received 368 complaints so far in 2017, which are more alleged pesticide misuse complaints than in the previous three years combined, according to a review of a statewide database of complaints by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.
Arkansas plant board faces opposition to April 15 dicamba cutoff
The Arkansas State Plant Board, which is scheduled to decide today whether to limit use of the weedkiller dicamba in 2018, is getting advice that ranges from a letter that suggests permitting use of the herbicide as late as May 25 to a petition against any limits at all, says broadcaster KARK. A task force convened at the direction of Gov. Asa Hutchinson has recommended an April 15 cutoff for using dicamba on cotton and soybeans in the state next year.
Arkansas takes step toward 2018 dicamba controls
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.
Dicamba is ‘tremendous success,’ says Monsanto; EPA mulls rule change
Monsanto chief technology officer Robb Fraley says there will be enough dicamba-tolerant seed available to account for half of U.S. soybean plantings next year. At the same time that EPA reportedly is considering new guidelines on use of the weedkiller, Fraley described dicamba as a "tremendous success" for "the overwhelming majority of farmers using" the low-volatility formulation of the herbicide.
Weed expert says he cannot support use of dicamba in 2018 in Arkansas
University of Arkansas weed scientist Jason Norsworthy described the weedkiller dicamba as "a product that is broken," and told a state task force that he could not recommend its use in the state in 2018, said the Arkansas Democrat newspaper. Arkansas leads the nation in reports of damage to crops when dicamba is sprayed on nearby fields.
Arkansas task force aims for long-term recommendations on use of dicamba
After shutting down row-crop use of dicamba for the rest of this growing season, Arkansas has appointed a 21-member task force to look for a long-term solution to the nearly 900 complaints about the herbicide this year. "The task force will attempt to reach consensus on a set of recommendations for the use of dicamba products n Arkansas as quickly as possible in order to provide certainty for the 2018 growing season," said the state Agriculture Department.
Dicamba damage tops 2.5 million acres, mostly in Midwest and South
A University of Missouri weed specialist says the weedkiller dicamba has damaged more than 2.5 million acres of cropland this year, mostly in the Midwest and South, reports Harvest Public Media. The researcher, Kevin Bradley, says, “I don’t know that we’ve ever in our agricultural history seen one active ingredient do so much damage across one nation like that.”
Monsanto agents condoned improper use of dicamba, says lawsuit
A class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in St. Louis accuses sales representatives of Monsanto, the world's largest seed and ag-chemical company, "of secretly giving farmers assurances that using unauthorized or 'off-label' spray varieties would be all right," reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "That’s one of many allegations in the suit to place blame from soaring complaints of dicamba damage on companies that produce the weedkiller and accompanying seed varieties."
Farm Belt question: Are dicamba-tolerant seeds the only way to avoid crop damage?
Missouri has tightened its rules for dicamba, permitting use of the herbicide only during the day and if winds are mild, as agriculture officials in the mid-South try to contain crop damage from the weedkiller sprayed on cotton and soybeans. Widespread reports of damage have left some growers feeling forced into buying dicamba-tolerant GE seed.
How climate change could turn America’s poorest region into a produce-growing hub
In FERN’s latest story, published with Switchyard Magazine, reporter Robert Kunzig takes us to the upper Mississippi River Delta, where the idea of growing more fruits and vegetables — to ease the burden on California in the climate-change era — is taking root.