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Farmers have mixed feelings on new dicamba label
The EPA’s new dicamba label has received mixed responses from Missouri farmers.
East central Missouri farmer Mark Stevens says he’s in favor of the new label.
“I’m really pleased with what they’ve done, now that they’ve come out with the Xtend beans,” he said. “To me, that pretty well solves the problems that we’ve had.”
Stevens is referring to the new XtendFlex beans that will be available for 2021. He said the new cutoff date of June 30th to spray dicamba in Missouri is ‘very workable’. Stevens farms no-till and says he plans on using dicamba in the spring for burn-down.
A few miles down the road, Josh Johnson tells Brownfield he still fears dicamba drift.
“You spray what you can keep on your side of the fence, and I treat my neighbors that way and I expect the same back from them,” Johnson said. “Even if there’re new products, I’m not very excited about the new label to be honest.”
He said while he hasn’t noticed yield drop due to drift, the external damage to his crops has been visible. Johnson says while he doesn’t like dicamba use, the EPA mishandled regulation of the herbicide this summer by blocking its use after farmers were committed to a crop program.
The Missouri Department of Agriculture is reviewing the EPA’s reregistration of dicamba and has not decided whether there will be any further state restrictions.
