Missouri, Arkansas Putting New Dicamba Restrictions in Place

According to a report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Missouri and Arkansas lawmakers are taking steps to help prevent future in-field problems from dicamba – the herbicide at the center of allegations of illegal applications in those states in 2016.

Last week, the Arkansas Plant Board passed restrictions that would only permit the use of certain types of dicamba and would only allow one product – Engenia, from BASF (not Monsanto’s XtendiMax ) – to be applied from April 15 through September 15, when temperatures make the herbicide more susceptible to drifting to nearby fields.

Under the state’s new policy, Engenia will be eligible for use on Monsanto’s dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybean varieties in Arkansas.

In Missouri, State Rep. Don Rone of Portageville introduced three bills for legislative review. Two bills would amend the approval process for herbicides and herbicide-resistant seed in Missouri. The third would raise existing fines for illegal herbicide use from $1,000 per field to $1,000 per acre.

More details are available in the Post-Dispatch article, available here.