Farm Bureau official: Federal regulations for dicamba will not be too difficult for farmers

Federal regulators are hoping revised guidelines will alleviate persistent issues stemming from the use and misuse of the popular herbicide dicamba.

While the herbicide has a tendency to damage adjacent crops if used incorrectly or in the wrong weather conditions, farmers across a wide swath of Midwestern states rely on the chemical to protect their crops; mostly cotton and soybeans.

Missouri Farm Bureau director of state legislative affairs BJ Tanksley said the new guidelines, while stricter on who may handle dicamba, do not appear too arduous for most farmers in the region.

“Since the new regulations came down from the [Environmental Protection Agency], we haven’t heard a lot of reaction from farmers,” Tanksley said. “The past couple of years, [dicamba] has been something we’ve heard about during the growing season, but this year I think farmers just wanted to know what they were dealing with prior to the growing season. They just wanted to have that information as soon as possible.”

The new set of guidelines — the third federal label in three years — includes several changes, but the top item is a new requirement anyone working with dicamba must first attain “certified applicator” status.

In previous years, farm employees could use dicamba without a certified applicator license as long as they were working under the supervision of a certified applicator.

Tanksley said it is the Missouri Farm Bureau’s intent to make certified applicator classes available in Southeast Missouri.

“There’s not a full list ready yet but there will be as spring starts to come around,” he said.

Among the other notable changes laid out in the new label are reduced applications on cotton from four to two, additional buffer requirements in counties where endangered species may exist, and more in-depth warnings regarding the impact of low pH on potential volatility of the herbicide.

The new guidelines were released in October. The Missouri Department of Agriculture has decided to forego a label of its own this year, instead deferring to the federal guidelines. Dicamba was briefly banned in Missouri in 2017, and the past several years have been marred by claims of crop damage associated with the chemical.

Tanksley said each year’s guidelines are an important part of how farmers budget their operations for the coming year, so having the guidelines months in advance is good.

“I think the biggest thing is they’re just happy to have [the regulations],” he said. “Now they can make their hiring and buying decisions ahead of time.”

tgraef@semissourian.com

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