Dicamba
The problem is making it difficult for farmers to know which herbicide chemistries will still work in their fields.
With the EPA reinstating labels for three over-the-top products, Nate Eitzmann explains how this returning tool fits into 2026 weed control plans—and why stewardship is more critical than ever.
While the EPA has set federal regulations for 2026 applications, some states are implementing tighter calendar deadlines and temperature cutoffs.
The decision comes with new rules and what the agency calls the strongest safeguards ever imposed on over-the-top applications.
With the outlook for high input costs and low commodity prices, the impulse for farmers is to cut their spend on products across the board for 2026. There is a more effective approach that will deliver better results and ROI, say Extension field agronomists.
With the public comment period, the agency stated it’s particularly interested in hearing how the proposed mitigation measures would be implemented by farmer stakeholders.
With two recent announcements the EPA has approved labels for over-the-top dicamba applications (XtendiMax, Engenia and Tavium herbicides) in 2023 in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota.
Monday, May 13 is the last day for sales and distribution of existing stocks of over-the-top dicamba products in 2024 for Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota.
On February 14, the EPA issued an existing stocks order for dicamba products previously registered for over-the-top use.
Users of OTT dicamba are required to receive training in order to use these products and these training sessions will be starting soon.
EPA and NASDA ring-in on the current dicamba evaluation process while continuing to wave their yellow “caution” flag.
EPA said there was little risk to most people from exposure to dicamba, though it identified six additional instances in which workers handling the herbicide should wear a respirator along with the required outfit.
In 2021, the agency reported it received 3,500 dicamba-related incident reports, including approximately 711 incidents in Minnesota and 528 incidents in Iowa.
The U.S. EPA is still reviewing the dicamba federal label for 2022.
Certified applicators must participate in training before applying these products in 2021.
Corteva Agriscience has announced its “business decision” to discontinue sales of FeXapan herbicide in the U.S. and Canada.
Herbicide applicators have the weight of dicamba’s future weighing heavily on their shoulders this year. EPA’s conditional registration lasts through Dec. 20, 2020.
EPA announced it approved three dicamba formulations for over-the-top use for five years, 2021 through 2025. The formulations included are BASF’s Engenia, Syngenta’s Tavium and Bayer’s XtendiMax.
“The level of infestation in any given field ranges from a small pocket where a mother plant went to seed in 2019, to an area covering several acres in a field.”
In a recent Farm Journal Pulse, with 539 responses, 36% of farmers said they were done with dicamba applications for the season. With 64% of respondents saying they still have acres to spray.
On Friday, judges in California with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a petition to halt all use of Engenia, FeXapan and XtendiMax dicamba herbicides.
“Petitioners’ motion to ‘Enforce this Court’s Vacatur and to Hold EPA in Contempt,’ is a thinly-veiled attempt to revive arguments the court already rejected or declined to reach. It should be denied.”
Plaintiffs in the case that lead to the products’ vacatur say EPA is wrong and that the courts should grant an emergency motion to enforce the vacatur and hold EPA in contempt for their actions.
ARA President and CEO Daren Coppock and NCFC CEO Chuck Conner sent a letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler asking for clarification and emphasizing that days matter as the application window is quickly closing.
“For soybean farmers who just planted or are finishing up planting of the dicamba-tolerant genetics, they were really caught off guard.” says Dave Spears, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at MKC.
“I get the question a lot if there are differences in adjuvants, and yes, there are,” says Dr. Bryan Young of Purdue University.
After three weeks of argument, a seven person jury in Cape Girardeau, Mo., is deliberating whether Monsanto and BASF are responsible for damages on a peach orchard in southeast Missouri.
The jury awarded Bader Farms $15 million in actual damages and tomorrow will decide an amount of punitive damages, too.