dicamba

Four days ago, the Missouri Agriculture Department announced a statewide ban on the weedkiller dicamba because of 130 complaints of damage when the herbicide drifted into neighboring fields. Agriculture Director Chris Chinn told Agritalk that it might be possible to rewrite regulations on use of the chemical and allow farmers to resume use of it by the end of this week.

The bicameral Arkansas Legislative Council approved an emergency rule allowing fines of up to $25,000 for "egregious" misuse of the weedkiller dicamba, the object of 550 complaints of crop damage, says KUAR-FM in Little Rock. The council, sometimes called the Legislature's most powerful committee because it oversees the executive branch of state government, is expected to decide on Friday whether to ban use of dicamba on cotton and soybeans for the rest of the growing season.

With more than 500 complaints of weedkiller misuse from Arkansas farmers, Gov. Asa Hutchinson approved an 120-day ban on use of the herbicide dicamba on row crops and forwarded the emergency step to the state's Legislative Council for a final decision. Hutchinson also assented to increasing the fine for egregious misuse of herbicides to a maximum of $25,000 and sent it to the council as well.

Faced with 97 complaints of misuse of the weed killer dicamba, the Arkansas state plant board is set to vote today on whether to ban the sale and use of the herbicide on cotton and soybeans for the rest of the growing season, reported DTN.

The EPA failed to consult with the Interior Department over the risk to endangered species before approving use of the Monsanto weedkiller dicamba on GE cotton and soybeans, say four farm and environmental groups in a federal lawsuit. The groups want the U.S. appellate court in San Francisco to order the EPA to consider again if the herbicide merits approval.

The wine industry contributes an estimated $2 billion to the Texas state economy, but winegrowers say their livelihood is under threat by weedkillers intended for use on genetically engineered cotton. They are not placated by EPA assurances that new herbicides use formulations that are less prone to drift onto neighboring land in the No. 1 cotton state, or that spray rigs will use anti-drift nozzles, says the Texas Tribune.

The largest peach grower in Missouri — Bader Farms — claims Monsanto is responsible for the illegal use of herbicide that damaged its trees over the past two years, said the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The lawsuit says 37,000 trees were harmed because of herbicide drift from a field where farmers used unauthorized versions of dicamba on crops, which were genetically engineered by Monsanto to tolerate the weedkiller.

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.

Special agents from EPA's Criminal Investigation Division served federal search warrants on several locations in Cape Girardeau, Dunklin, New Madrid and Stoddard counties in southeastern Missouri, tied to complaints of crop damage from pesticide drift, said the Daily Dunklin Democrat. The EPA is investigating possible misuse of the herbicide dicamba.

In a decision that removed a roadblock to adoption of a new genetically engineered soybean variety, the European Commission approved import of the Monsanto soybean that is resistant to two types of weedkillers, said Reuters. The soybean went on sale in the United States and Canada this year surrounded by questions about whether there was a market for it.

The Missouri state Agriculture Department has received more than 100 complaints this spring and summer of crop damage from wind-spread "drift" of the herbicide dicamba from neighboring fields, says DTN, saying some growers are using the weedkiller on soybeans although it is not approved. "The hotbed for the off-target and off-label problems appears to be southeast Missouri, northeast Arkansas and northwest Tennessee," said DTN.

The planting season has yet to begin, but "some elevators have begun alerting growers that they will not accept" soybeans grown from Monsanto's new genetically engineered strain, Roundup Ready 2 Xtend, unless the EU approves the variety, reports DTN.

Cotton and soybean varieties genetically engineered by Monsanto to tolerate the herbicide dicamba should be approved for use by farmers, said USDA in issuing its final environmental impact statement (EIS) on the strains.

Retailers are allowed to sell and farmers are allowed to use existing stocks of the weedkiller dicamba on this year’s soybean and cotton crops no later than July 30, said the EPA on Wednesday. A federal judge in Arizona overturned the EPA’s approval of three dicamba-containing herbicides last week, potentially disrupting the spring planting season.