Minnesota Hangs Tough on June 20 Dicamba Cutoff
The State of Minnesota is hanging tough on its June 20 cutoff for the use of dicamba, despite the late spring and delayed planting.
According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), the 2019 Minnesota restriction is in addition to those established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The affected formulations are XtendiMax by Monsanto, Engenia by BASF, FeXapan by DuPont, and Tavium by Syngenta.
“We understand that late planting this season has caused concern for growers who want to use this crop management tool,” said Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen. “However, delaying applications in an attempt to control later emerging weeds can result in poor control and presents other risks.
“If you are one of the growers that has invested in dicamba technology, now is the time to use it because late planting combined with pre-plant tillage can offer advantages for weed control, according to University of Minnesota Extension,” he says.
Petersen says the June 20, 2019, cut-off date is based on the MDA’s ongoing investigations and informal surveys into reports of crop damage from alleged dicamba off-target movement over the past two growing seasons. MDA received 253 reports of alleged dicamba drift in 2017, 55 of those were formal complaints requesting investigations. Those reports impacted an estimated 265,000 acres.
MDA reports that after state restrictions were put in place for the 2018 growing season, the number of complaints dropped dramatically to 53 reports, of which 29 were formal complaints. Just over 1,800 acres were impacted in 2018.
