The changes will be implemented for the 2018 growing season
By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and several dicamba manufacturers have agreed on label changes for the upcoming growing season.
Farmers in Arkansas and Missouri reported significant soybean damage due to dicamba drift, prompting the government and industry officials to respond.
The EPA worked with scientists, manufacturers and state governments to come up with the best solution for farmers.
The changes “are the result of intensive, collaborative efforts, working side by side with the states and university scientists from across the nation who have first-hand knowledge of the problem and workable solutions,” Scott Pruitt, EPA Administrator, said in a Friday release.
The label changes pertain to “over the top” applications. They include:
- Classifying products as "restricted use," permitting only certified applicators with special training, and those under their supervision, to apply them;
- Implementing dicamba-specific training for all certified applicators to reinforce proper use;
- Requiring farmers to maintain specific records regarding the use of these products to improve compliance with label restrictions;
- Limiting applications to when maximum wind speeds are below 10 mph (from 15 mph) to reduce potential spray drift;
- Reducing the times during the day when applicators can apply the product;
- Including tank clean-out language to prevent cross contamination; and
- Enhancing susceptible crop language and record keeping with sensitive crop registries to increase awareness of risk to especially sensitive crops nearby.
Manufacturers like Monsanto are encouraged the new requirements can help the industry manage dicamba drift issues.
“Based on the science behind our low-volatility dicamba product and learnings from the 2017 season, we are confident the required training and record keeping can address the main causes of off-target movement,” Ty Vaughn, Monsanto’s global regulatory lead, said in a Friday statement.
“We want to stress how important it is that farmers use products approved by the EPA.”
Monsanto is also taking additional steps to supplement the EPA’s changes, including working with The Climate Corporation to help farmers identify problematic weather, distributing spray nozzles that are compliant with the product label free of charge and setting up a technical support call center.
Producer groups are encouraged by the label changes to help mitigate dicamba drift, especially since some states, like Arkansas, may place a ban on the herbicide.
“Farmers look to new innovations like dicamba to help grow healthy, affordable food while combatting pests and diseases,” ASA president Ron Moore said in a Friday statement. “We’re encouraged by EPA’s label changes which we trust will allow farmers to continue to utilize this important tool while also working to protect and prevent damage to non-dicamba tolerant crops.
“Moving forward, ASA looks forward to working with EPA, states, manufactures and our farmers to implement these changes while also seeking the root cause of this issue so new technologies can be used in years to come.”