Minnesota Department of Agriculture officials are pleased that U.S. EPA is taking leadership on the dicamba drift issue.

EPA reached an agreement this month with Monsanto, BASF and DuPont on measures to further minimize the potential for drift to damage neighboring crops from the use of dicamba formulations used to control weeds in genetically modified soybeans and cotton.

New requirements for applying dicamba over the top of growing plants will allow farmers to make informed choices for seed purchases for the 2018 growing season.

EPA officials worked cooperatively with states, land-grant universities and the pesticide manufacturers to examine the underlying causes of recent crop damage across the farm belt, the Southeast and Minnesota.

As of mid-September, there were 249 complaints filed in Minnesota alleging dicamba drift damage.

Manufacturers voluntarily agreed to label changes that impose additional requirements for over-the-top use of these products in 2018, including the following:

• Products must be classified as "restricted-use," permitting only certified applicators with special training, and those under their supervision, to apply them. Dicamba-specific training will be required for all certified applicators.

• Farmers will be required to maintain specific records regarding the use of these products to improve compliance with label restrictions.

• Applications will be limited to when maximum wind speeds are below 10 mph (from 15 mph) to reduce potential spray drift.

• Times during the day when applications can occur will be reduced.

• Tank cleanout language to prevent cross-contamination will be included.

• Susceptible crop language and record-keeping with sensitive crop registries to increase awareness of risk to especially sensitive crops nearby will be enhanced.

EPA officials said that manufacturers have agreed to a process to get the revised labels into the hands of farmers in time for the 2018 use season.

EPA officials said they will monitor the success of these changes to help inform future decisions whether to allow the continued over-the-top use of dicamba beyond the 2018 growing season. When EPA registered these products, it set the registrations to expire in two years to allow EPA to change the registration, if necessary.

Joshua Stamper, director of MDA’s Pesticide and Fertilizer Management Division, says the department continues to seek further guidance on the issue.

“EPA released general guidance on the new label changes. However we are still waiting on the registrants to release the new container labels,” Stamper says. “We are also still waiting on EPA to provide clarification and uniform guidance for the education that is going to be required to apply dicamba products that are labeled for application to dicamba-tolerant soybeans.”

In the meantime, MDA also is collecting dicamba research data from the chemical companies and the University of Minnesota. MDA intends to use this information to formulate its 2018 dicamba registration decision. The agency’s dicamba product registrations expire Dec. 31.

MDA could issue stricter rules than EPA’s, Stamper confirms.

MDA is reviewing the information from its dicamba damage survey, which closed Sept. 15, and data submitted by the companies.

“This information, combined with the actual container labels, will dictate what additional requirements the commissioner might require, if the commissioner re-registers these dicamba products in Minnesota for the 2018 crop year,” Stamper says.

MDA also is working with University of Minnesota Extension and the registrants to come up with the newly required additional dicamba training for licensed applicators. Stamper adds that the agency is still waiting to see if EPA provides any uniform guidance on what the 2018 training will need to entail.

For more information on EPA’s announcement, visit  "Registration of dicamba for use on genetically engineered crops."