Farmers in South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana are affected by the change
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made changes to over-the-top dicamba application in four states.
The cutoff date for soybean farmers in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa is June 12 or V4, whichever comes first.
For cotton farmers in those three states, the cutoff date is June 12 or 1st square, whichever comes first.
These are federal rules and may not be disputed, the Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association said.
“This is a federal ruling and must be observed for all (over-the-top) dicamba applications to soybean in Illinois,” the organization said on Feb. 16.
In South Dakota, the cutoff date for dicamba applications is June 20.
These dates apply to XtendiMax, Engenia and Tavium.
The changes come after a dicamba manufacturer submitted a request for a label change.
Bayer CropScience requested the change and targeted those four states purposely.
“The states incorporated in this amendment were proposed by the registrant because they accounted for a significant percentage of total off-target movement complained reported to state lead agencies in the last 3 years and these states did not object in writing to these label changes being made,” the EPA said in its ruling.
In 2021, for example, Iowa’s ag department received 315 complaints of crop protection product misuse.
In Minnesota, the same rules applied in 2022 will be in effect for 2023.
This means farmers may not apply dicamba south of Interstate 94 after June 12, and north of Interstate 94 after June 30.
Minnesota farmers are also prohibited from using dicamba if the forecasted high temperatures exceed 85 F.
Ag groups in other states are pleased their dicamba application dates didn’t change.
Farmers in Nebraska, for example, retained their June 30 cutoff for dicamba applications.
“Dicamba products are essential to address weed pressures in pre-plant and post-plant situations. Considering the need to manage weed threats effectively, all uses on the existing label, including over-the-top application, must also remain available to farmers,” the Nebraska Farm Bureau said in a statement. “As resistance to some crop protection products has increased across the country, the need for diversification and innovation in this space cannot be understated.”