Cristina LaRue | Arkansas Democrat Gazette
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday issued an order allowing farmers to spray existing stocks of dicamba products on their dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybeans and set deadlines for limited sales and distribution of the herbicide.
Details are included in a memo from the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
On Feb. 6, a federal court in Arizona vacated 2020 registrations for Monsanto (now Bayer) XtendiMax, BASF’s Engenia and Syngenta’s Tavium that allowed for use of the dicamba products by U.S. farmers.
The deadline for sale and distribution of Xtendimax, Engenia or Tavium on dicamba-tolerant soybean in Arkansas is May 31 and for dicamba-tolerant cotton, it is June 30, according to the EPA’s memo.
The deadline to use up existing stocks of Xtendimax, Engenia or Tavium on dicamba-tolerant soybean is June 30 and on on dicamba-tolerant cotton, it is July 30.
Farm Bureau Appreciates EPA Answering Farmers’ Concerns
Courtesy of American Farm Bureau
American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall today commented on the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to allow farmers to use existing stocks of dicamba for the upcoming planting season. AFBF sent a letter to EPA earlier this week following a recent federal court ruling in Arizona, which vacated the registration of three dicamba products, critically important tools for farmers in fighting resistant weeds.
“We are grateful to EPA for hearing farmers’ and ranchers’ concerns and addressing them quickly to ensure we have access to the critical tools needed to protect our crops this season. Without EPA stepping in, farmers and ranchers across the country were facing uncertainty and financial risk.
“Farmers are committed to the safe use of all crop protection tools, and many had already made planting decisions with dicamba-tolerant crop systems in place for the season. We rely on science-based guidance from EPA, and we appreciate the agency standing by farmers and science in this decision today.”