Missouri
Growing pains where urban meets rural
Central Iowa’s Dallas County is growing rapidly as the Des Moines metropolitan area spreads westward, says Harvest Public Media in a look at life in two midwestern counties where rural is meeting urban.
Another Missouri community fights the CAFO-expansion trend
Residents of tiny Lone Jack, MO, are fighting a proposal by a local ranch to expand its feedlot from around 600 cows to nearly 7,000. It is the latest in a series of communities pushing back against a national trend toward concentrated animal agriculture. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Trump taps Missouri co-op official to run USDA rural utilities agency
The president of a rural electric cooperative in central Missouri is President Trump’s choice to head the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service. The agency oversees programs that range from water and sewer facilities to electrical lines and telecommunications.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Missouri ag director says dicamba ban could end this week
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.
Fearing crop damage, Arkansas and Missouri temporarily ban dicamba
Responding to more than 700 complaints of crop damage due to pesticide drift, Missouri and Arkansas banned temporarily the use of the weedkiller dicamba, a stunning setback for an herbicide promoted as the answer to fast-growing invasive weeds that are resistant to other chemical controls. Seed and ag-chemical giant Monsanto said the Arkansas ban was premature and told growers, "[T]o ensure your continued access to dicamba, make sure your elected officials and relevant agencies" hear dicamba success stories.
Can the U.S. save this dinosaur fish?
After 70 million years on earth, the fate of the pallid sturgeon depends on what officials decide to do about a a single dam, says High Country News. A prehistoric-looking fish with ghostly white skin, the species is down to fewer than 125 wild-born adults in Montana’s upper Missouri River Basin.
Support crumbles for Oklahoma ‘right-to-farm’ amendment
Conservative voters are turning their backs on a proposed right-to-farm amendment for Oklahoma's state constitution, a possibly pivotal shift in a politically conservative state. The independent Sooner Poll says voter support for the right-to-farm proposal, one of seven constitutional questions on Tuesday's ballot, has plummeted to 37 percent from its July level of 53 percent.
EPA investigates Missouri for misuse of dicamba herbicide
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.
Misuse of dicamba weedkiller reported in 10 states — EPA
An unusually large number of complaints of crop damage by herbicides that include dicamba have been reported this year, says EPA in a compliance advisory that warns it is illegal to use the weedkiller on cotton or soybeans during the growing season. Farmers in 10 states have complained to EPA and state officials of dicamba damage, with Missouri suffering the most widespread impact from herbicide "drift" from nearby fields.
Crops damaged by drift of dicamba weedkiller
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.
Rain mires Kansas wheat harvest, soy planting in Missouri
Persistently rainy spring weather is bogging down the winter wheat harvest in Kansas, the No. 1 state for winter wheat, Oklahoma and Missouri, says the weekly Crop Progress report.
Farmland loss in Midwest: 1.6 million acres in 20 years
The Midwest lost 1.06 percent of its farmland in the two decades ending in 2021; development accounted for half of the loss, said three Ohio State University analysts on Monday. "The role of large urban areas is paramount, as 81 percent of land lost to development in the eight states occurred within metropolitan statistical areas," which are regions with a core city of at least 50,000 people and strong ties to its surrounding communities.