IFCA Gives Dicamba Update

From the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association (IFCA): 
The Illinois Department of Agriculture is still dealing with a record setting number of pesticide misuse complaints. There are 853 total ag related complaints, 648 of which are attributed to suspected dicamba symptoms (mostly in non DT soybeans but also in other plants).  
 
IFCA would like to thank all of our retail members who completed the IFCA 2019 dicamba use survey--we had 238 responses, more than double the response rate of our surveys in 2017 and 2018. The information that our commercial applicator members provided will help the IFCA Board develop policy on dicamba use in 2020. The discussions with our fellow ag groups and IDA is beginning. IFCA is hopeful that we can effectively find ways to bring down the number of complaints to enable use of this herbicide technology in the future, to avoid an encounter with the legislature about the rise in pesticide misuse complaints, and to bring all parties together to support a stewardship platform. One thing we know for sure is there is no easy answer. Compromise will be necessary. IFCA appreciates the input from our members and we will keep you posted on this issue.
 
One IFCA member, who is a Certified Crop Advisor and an Illinois SoyAdvisor, wrote a concise perspective on the issues that have arisen with dicamba.  With his permission, we are providing a link to the article entitled "What if They Gave the Microphone to the Elephant in the Room?"  It's worth your time to read, and reminds us all of how difficult this issue is, what is at stake, and that doing nothing is not an option.