“I was happy to see it,” said Wolf, co-owner of Agrimetrix, a Saskatoon company that does research and training for agricultural sprays.

Why it matters: Dicamba-resistant soybeans include some of the most popular varieties currently grown in Manitoba.

In a proposed decision released Sept. 17, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency banned the spraying of dicamba on dicamba tolerant (DT) soybeans after the crop starts growing.

Prohibiting “over the top” use of dicamba on DT soybeans should reduce the risk of off-target damage in the future.

“Yes. I would say that is true,” Wolf said.

“They’ve recognized volatility as the bigger cause of drift than droplet drift.”

This is not a final decision because crop science companies, farmers and others have 45 days to comment on the proposal.

Bayer will likely comment, since it sells corn and soybean seeds under the Roundup Ready Xtend brand, which are tolerant to both dicamba and glyphosate.

It allows farmers to spray the crop and control weeds during the growing season.

Bayer Crop Science Canada is assessing the PMRA’s proposed special review decision and the potential impact on the agriculture industry.

“Bayer stands behind the safety of our products, including dicamba, which is an important herbicide for Canadian farmers,” the company said in an email.

“Dicamba complements glyphosate as a critical crop protection tool by controlling certain glyphosate resistant weeds and providing consistent broadleaf residual weed control. Dicamba is a significant tool for growers and was applied to 9.3 million acres of Canadian crop land in 2024 (Source: Ag Data).”

The PMRA has been conducting a special review into the risks of spray drift from dicamba. Its decision will have the following impacts on soybean and corn growers in Canada, the PMRA said:

• Removal of over-the-top applications to DT soybeans after the crop starts growing (post-emergence). Currently, dicamba products can be applied once before planting or emergence, and up to two more times post-emergence.
• Cancellation of its use for DT soybean seed production.

New label requirements include:

• Avoid application when temperatures exceed 25 C, as warmer temperatures can cause dicamba to volatilize and move off-site.
• Lower the maximum plant height for application on DT field corn crop from 76 cm to 50 centimetres.
• Update the size of spray buffer zones for crop and non-crop areas, ranging from one to 115 metres for field sprayers and from 45 to 800 metres for aerial application.

Health Canada looked at and evaluated the risk of spray drift and from dicamba volatilization, where the herbicide evaporates from the soil or plant tissue following application.

Department scientists concluded that “dicamba has the potential to volatilize and move off-site throughout the entire growing season.”

Health Canada looked at reports where dicamba was applied to DT crops and caused damage to nearby agricultural fields or plants. From 2015-25, there were 101 reported cases of damage to non-target plants.

Wolf said the number of drift incidents was likely much higher than 101.

“(Official) notifications are usually the items of last resort,” he said.

“Most reports (of damage) don’t make it to any kind of authority. They’re ignored (by the farmer) … or they’re settled between neighbours.”

Since about 2017, Wolf has questioned the idea of spraying dicamba on top of DT soybeans. He doubts it can be done safely because the risk of evaporation and dicamba moving to another field is too high.

The best option is not to spray it.

“I think when you put the pieces together, any thinking person would say, ‘well, that’s probably the best thing to do,’ ” he said late this summer.

If farmers use the right product and follow the label directions, the risk of drift can be minimized, said Terry Buss, production agronomist with Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers.

“Old-fashioned dicamba can drift pretty readily, (but) … the products that are made specifically for soybeans, which are the only ones that are supposed to be used, are less prone to drift.”

One example is Bayer’s XtendiMax with Vapor Grip technology. Bayer says it’s a “low volatility formulation” of dicamba, specifically designed for Roundup Ready Xtend soybeans.

Bayer Crop Science Canada said dicamba has been used in Canada for 45 years and remains an important tool for Canadian farmers.

“Its usage has increased by about three times over the past 10 years because it is an effective tool of key driver weeds, particularly on kochia in the west and Canada fleabane in the east.”

Bayer, soybean growers and other interested parties have until Nov. 1 to comment on Health Canada’s proposed decision on dicamba. — With files from Jeff Melchior

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In a decision released Wednesday morning, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency removed the registration to spray dicamba on dicamba tolerant soybeans after the crop starts growing.

Bayer sells corn and soybean seed under the Roundup Ready XTend brand, which is tolerant to both dicamba and glyphosate, allowing Canadian farmers to spray the crop and control weeds during the growing season.

Bayer assessing PMRA proposal

In an email to the Western Producer, Bayer Crop Science Canada said it is still assessing the PMRA’s proposed special review decision and the potential impact on the agriculture industry.

“Bayer stands behind the safety of our products, including dicamba, which is an important herbicide for Canadian farmers,” Bayer said.

“Dicamba complements glyphosate as a critical crop protection tool by controlling certain glyphosate resistant weeds and providing consistent broadleaf residual weed control. Dicamba is a significant tool for growers and was applied to 9.3 million acres of Canadian crop land in 2024 (Source: Ag Data).”

The PMRA has been conducting a special review on the risks of spray drift and volatilization of dicamba. Using Health Canada language, it was looking at the “potential risk to non-target terrestrial plants from the use of commercial dicamba products.”

Impacts on soy, corn

In its proposed special review decision, posted online Sept. 17, Health Canada said its decision will have the following impacts on soybean and corn growers in Canada:

•  Removal of over-the-top applications to dicamba tolerant (DT) soybeans after the crop starts growing (post-emergence). Currently, dicamba products can be applied once before planting or emergence and up to two more times post-emergence.
• Cancellation of its use for DT soybean seed production

New label requirements include:

• Avoid application when temperatures exceed 25 C because warmer temperatures can cause dicamba to volatilize and move off-site.
• Lower the maximum plant height for application on DT field corn crop from 76 centimetres to 50 cm. This will help reduce the chance of pesticide drift to nearby plants and align with the current application height limit for non-DT field corn.
• Update the size of spray buffer zones for crop and non-crop areas, ranging from one to 115 metres for field sprayers and from 45 to 800 metres for aerial application.

Risk of spray drift and volatilization

Health Canada evaluated the risk of spray drift and dicamba volatilization, where the herbicide evaporates from the soil or plant tissue following application.

Agency scientists concluded that “dicamba has the potential to volatilize and move off-site throughout the entire growing season.”

Further, Health Canada studied incidents where dicamba applied to DT crops caused damage to nearby agricultural fields or plants.

From 2015-25, there were 101 reported cases of damage to non-target plants, “89 per cent of which involved just five commercial products with registered uses in DT crops,” Health Canada said.

Some pesticide application experts believe that the risk of volatilization from dicamba is too high and cannot be properly managed. Others say that newer dicamba products are less volatile.

Under the proposed Health Canada decision, soybean growers could still apply dicamba to DT soybeans before seeding or before the crop emerges from the ground.

However, there are no permitted uses in dicamba tolerant soybean seed production.

All uses of dicamba on crops that are not-tolerant of the herbicide, such as cereal crops and lowbush blueberries, are still permitted if the proposed label amendments are implemented.

Health Canada will accept written comments on this proposed decision until Nov. 1.

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Holding up several corn stalks nearly ready to tassel, but goosenecked with fused roots, the Bayer Crop Science agronomic solutions advisor asked participants to assess what had happened.

“My corn looked awesome until just a few days ago, and all of a sudden it looks like this,” Freitag began. “Look at the tassels. Some of it’s definitely not going to be able to come out of there. I don’t know what the heck is going on.”

Why it matters: Plant staging accuracy, timing and weather conditions can significantly impact crop health and yield related to herbicide application.

Max Van den Borre, a BASF sales intern and University of Guelph Food and Agricultural Business student, played the role of an agronomist, peppering Freitag with questions.

When was the corn sprayed, and at what stage was it? What was used in the sprayer previously, and was this injury widespread or occurring in specific areas, such as the headlands, low or high areas of the field?

She answered the rapid-fire questions just as quickly.

At the end of May, at about the four- or five-leaf stage, she sprayed Roundup and Marksman at a rate of one litre per acre, with no potential sprayer input contamination. She’d used Roundup on some beans previously, and she’d never encountered previous incidents of injury with the application, noting it was not a Dicamba-sensitive hybrid.

“It was just in a few areas of the field; not every plant was like this, but there were areas where every plant was and then the odd one otherwise. There wasn’t really a pattern,” she said. “Maybe (in) the better parts of the field.”

It was that final statement that Van den Borre seized on.

“Was the crop more advanced in those areas? What was that stage? How did you stage it?” he questioned.

Freitag smiled, acknowledging she was impressed with the calibre of questioning.

“I didn’t really walk the whole field. Most of it looked like it was four- or five-leaf stage. I guess some of it could have been a little further ahead. I’m not sure,” Freitag said. “I just looked at it – one, two, three, four. The label goes up to five-leaf, so I figured I was pretty safe. But after I sprayed, it got really cold (at night), and (the temperatures) weren’t too bad during the day.”

With that, Freitag started a lesson on how improper staging and weather can wreak havoc on plant development because, despite Dicamba’s five-leaf label, she prefers to apply it no later than four-leaf.

“If it was on the upper end of that (five-leaf) staging or beyond, and those fluctuating temperatures – I think that combination is what hit it,” said Frietag.

BASF’s Distinct products have a little more latitude for later applications, but the early post-emerge products require extra care, she reiterated.

Participants debated whether Freitag’s early-stage corn plant example’s top leaf was considered “over” with another leaf emerging. Freitag said producers should overestimate leaf stage rather than underestimate, noting the coleoptile — the first, shorter, round-tip leaf — counts, even if removed, because the plant recognizes it was there. It’s possible the producer didn’t count it, she theorized.

“It’s really easy to stage corn wrong,” she said. “It’s critical that the applicator knows, or farmer knows – whoever’s making that call on when to spray – knows. Especially with any Dicamba products.”

Fluctuating temperatures can influence the staging throughout the field and impact how Dicamba application metabolizes the corn once it hits the rapid growth phase.

Last year, she assessed a field sprayed with Dicamba and Marksman at the six- to seven-leaf stage, which displayed some goosenecking and twisting.

“The farmer kind of laughed at me that I was panicking that he did that,” Freitag said, adding excellent growing conditions at application and after likely minimized the impact, resulting in a 200-bushel yield.

She explained that two weeks of cold, harsh weather could have stunted corn height but not the leaf stage, leaving producers focused on height because they “always spray it when it’s about three or four inches tall,” caught off guard by the actual number of leaves.

The examples Freitag showed didn’t leave much hope for ear development, in her opinion, but there are enough normal-looking plants that she’s hopeful pollination shouldn’t be an issue for the rest.

“I’m losing hope on the tassel,” she said, flipping the plant to display a gnarled root ball. “It’s fused right tight together. There’s a little bit open at the top, but that tassel is going to really struggle to get out.”

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“We are concerned as farmers about rules and regulations coming out of EPA when it comes to herbicides,” Josh Gackle, president of the American Soybean Association (ASA), said during the general session of the 2024 Commodity Classic conference.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed a herbicide strategy designed to bring the agency’s registrations into compliance with the Endangered Species Act.

Courts have consistently ruled that the EPA is not properly evaluating the impact pesticides have on endangered species, and the proposed strategy is the EPA’s attempt to address those concerns.

Gackle said the ASA has no problem with the EPA meeting its legal obligations, but the policy must be something that could be implemented on farms and that is not the case with the proposed strategy.

For example, the strategy calls for farmers to seek guidance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 30 days before applying a pesticide in areas where endangered species reside.

“We don’t know three days ahead of time what we need to be spraying in our fields,” Gackle said during an interview.

“Something like that just doesn’t work.”

A survey conducted by the ASA indicates 80 percent of producers would not comply with the EPA’s proposal and would face “moderate to extreme” costs to become compliant.

“The proposal would likely require billions of dollars for farmers across the country to implement and could prevent some farmers from using certain herbicides entirely,” the ASA said in a news release.

That is why soybean growers were relieved when the EPA announced it is extending the deadline to finalize the strategy by three months to Aug. 30, giving the agency more time to consider feedback from farm groups and others.

“They are taking our input, so that’s a hopeful sign,” said Gackle.

He also praised the agency for its quick action in the dicamba case.

Growers were blindsided by a federal district court in Arizona that vacated the 2020 registrations for a variety of dicamba products used on 50 million acres of U.S. corn and soybeans.

The ruling meant growers couldn’t use millions of dollars worth of product for the 2024 growing season and would have seriously jeopardized yields.

However, the EPA stepped in and ruled that growers can use existing stocks of the product that were packaged, labelled and shipped before the Feb. 6 court ruling.

“We feel like we stopped the bleeding there and saved a lot of families a lot of money,” EPA administrator Michael Regan told reporters during the Commodity Classic, a conference that drew a record 11,500 guests.

U.S. agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack praised his colleague.

“Every time I think I’ve got a tough job, I say to myself, ‘thank God I’m not the EPA administrator,’” he said during his speech to the delegates.

Vilsack said Regan has to deal with interest groups, Congress and courts telling him what to do and when to do it.

Regan said there is a 20-year history of courts telling the EPA what to do, and it creates difficult situations such as the dicamba incident.

“No grower wants to wake up in the middle of a growing season to be told one of the tools in the toolbox is now taken away,” he said.

Gackle noted that the dicamba registrations for 2025 and beyond are now under the microscope.

He anticipates product manufacturers will come up with labels that are more restrictive so they don’t face another legal battle.

Gackle expects final cut-off dates for application of the product may be earlier and buffer zones could be increased.

Brent Cheyne, president of the National Wheat Growers Association, said farmers recently had a big win in a legal battle with California over Proposition 65, which would have banned the use of Roundup in the state.

“After six long years of litigation we prevailed,” he said.

“It was a long and arduous battle and there were times I questioned (if) we would win.”

Cheyne said Roundup makes no-till possible, a practice that builds topsoil, reduces air and water pollution and creates better habitat for wildlife.

He said pesticide regulations need to be based on peer-reviewed science from bodies such as the National Academy of Sciences rather than “hocus pocus science.”

“We have to have our crop inputs protected,” he said.

“People need to realize we’re not just out there spraying for something to do. It costs a lot of money to do it.”

—Sean Pratt writes for the Western Producer.

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Why it matters: Understanding how drift can occur and dealing with it if it happens can minimize crop loss and keep neighbours happy.

“I’m not representing any enforcement agency, but if there is a drift issue, you want to know what it looks like and determine how you resolve it,” says Tom Wolf, owner of Agrimetrix Research and Training in Saskatoon.

“That’s really the question we’re trying to answer: What would you do as someone who’s been drifted on?”

Wolf provided insights on drift complaints and damage, his role in investigations and research into how and why chemical products drift. He spoke at the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association’s annual meeting Feb. 7 in Elora.

The classic picture of drift has visible sign of damage, usually upwind of a susceptible crop. It may be annoying and some words may be exchanged between owners.

But the good news, based on Wolf’s investigations and research, is that most scenarios do not cause an economically significant loss across a whole field.

A step back

The bulk of Wolf’s presentation involved explanations about drift damage to susceptible crops and clearer definitions surrounding those incidents.

There are many potential causes of crop damage, including phytotoxic herbicide and susceptible crop combinations.

“That’s just basic agronomy and there’s no list of things I can provide here,” said Wolf. “You just have to dig into your agronomic knowledge.”

Second on his “to do” list is to understand that damaged fields must be either downwind or downhill from an application. Drift cannot move uphill or upwind.

A third consideration is the pattern of damage, where drift deposit dissipates rapidly with distance. That occurs because most spraying is done during the day and in breezy conditions.

“That’s a good thing and limits the damage because there’s a lot of dilution in the atmosphere and the spray cloud goes up and down, and deposits out very quickly,” said Wolf.

In estimating potential damage, he conducted a composite of 21 different studies using varying boom heights and nozzles, which helps determine the pattern of damage. Starting with the spray boom, he measured how much product reached the target and how much moved one, two and five metres away and from five to 120 metres away.

He found that an average 82 per cent of applied product was on target. The first two metres downwind captured 15 per cent. Beyond two metres and up to five metres it was one per cent and from five to 120 metres it dropped to 0.3 per cent. The remaining 1.7 per cent dissipated into the atmosphere.

Dicamba drift

In 2017, the dicamba-based product XtendiMax was introduced and the subject of drift or off-target movement changed dramatically. That year, in parts of the U.S. Midwest, there were 2,708 dicamba drift incidents documented with a state authority.

According to Wolf, they were often unresolved and the actual number of cases was higher and unreported.

“The covered area exceeded 3.6 million acres of drift complaints in 2017,” he said, noting the average size of each complaint was 1,328.4 acres.

“That’s more than one drift complaint, so there were a lot that were not reported.”

Unfortunately, dicamba damage is highly specific and visible. Cupping of leaves, particularly in soybeans, is a clear indication.

Wolf and his Sprayers 101 partner, Jason Deveau, also talked at the recent Ontario Agricultural Conference about the use of drones for spraying herbicides.

Those applications are illegal in Canada, although they’re frequently carried out in the U.S., and there is evidence of the same practice in parts of Ontario and the West.

How to find the cause of drift

Wolf said there are a number of potential causes for crop damage and urged attendees to explore all possibilities in their search for the cause.

1. Talk to neighbours. Keep communicating, especially if you’re angry. There might be a reason your neighbour is doing what they’re doing or it could be an honest mistake.
2. Consult with an independent agronomist; someone without any stake in the economics of the farm, who can also help with documentation.
3. Sample plants and freeze half for subsequent analysis. Make sure of your record keeping. It might show that you weren’t on the field in question.
4. Monitor crop progress for symptoms, delayed maturity and height measurements. In spite of visual injury, the crop may grow out of its apparent damage.
5. Obtain weather records. If you don’t have a weather app, Environment Canada can help with weather data such as temperatures, relative humidity, wind direction and speed.
6. Measure yield. It can be complicated and contentious to gather yield data from affected parts and non-affected parts of a field but that comparison is vital.
7. Stay reasonable. Sometimes crop injury happens to you and sometimes you cause it.

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Glacier FarmMedia — Day one of the 2024 Commodity Classic is in the books and a few interesting themes emerged from the annual gathering of U.S. corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum growers.

U.S. farmers are clearly annoyed about a number of new pesticide regulations.

Growers felt blindsided by a federal district court ruling in Arizona vacating the 2020 registrations for a variety of dicamba products used on 50 million acres of U.S. corn and soybeans.

The ruling meant growers couldn’t use the product for the 2024 growing season.

However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has since ruled that growers can use existing stocks of the product that were packaged, labeled and shipped prior to the Feb. 6 court ruling.

That is a big relief to the country’s soybean and cotton growers, but they wonder what’s in store for 2025 and beyond.

Farmers are also concerned about the EPA’s response to numerous other court rulings that determined the regulator has continually failed to meet its Endangered Species Act obligations.

Farm groups say the EPA’s proposed Herbicide Strategy, which will bring registrations into compliance with the act, is going to cost them a fortune.

A survey conducted by the American Soybean Association (ASA) indicates 80 percent of producers would not comply with the EPA’s proposal and would face “moderate to extreme” costs to become compliant.

“The proposal would likely require billions of dollars for farmers across the country to implement and could prevent some farmers from using certain herbicides entirely,” the ASA stated in a press release.

A petition it circulated collected 1,500 signatures from growers, applicators and other agricultural stakeholders calling for withdrawal of the proposal.

Soy growers were pleased that the EPA recently announced it has extended the deadline to finalize the strategy by three months to August 30, giving it more time to consider their criticism of the strategy.

Another big topic of conversation at the convention is the 2024 Farm Bill, an omnibus package of legislation that covers everything from school nutrition programs to farm safety nets.

Grower groups are lobbying hard for a bill that “does no harm” to crop insurance programs and sets higher reference prices for crops that will trigger direct payments sooner under today’s falling price environment.

The U.S. Congress is still debating and designing the bill, which was originally supposed to be in place for 2023.

There was plenty of talk about markets at the conference as well.

Al Kluis, with Kluis Commodity Advisors, had good news and bad news for farmers.

The good news is that he thinks corn and soybean futures prices have bottomed out, at least temporarily.

The bad news is that if the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s yield and acreage forecasts for 2024-25 are correct, it doesn’t bode well for prices, especially for corn.

“We could see extremely low prices in the fall,” he said.

The soybean outlook doesn’t look nearly as bad, and he is extremely excited about the long-term future for that crop due to looming demand from the sustainable aviation fuel industry.

PepsiCo and Walmart talked about their US$120 million joint venture to support sustainable agriculture in the U.S. and Canada.

The program aims to accelerate the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices on more than two million acres of farmland in the U.S. and Canada, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by four million tonnes by 2030.

Monitor the pages of The Western Producer and other Glacier FarmMedia publications for full stories on these and other topics from the 2024 Commodity Classic.

––Sean Pratt writes for the Western Producer. 

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The decision is a win for farmers who planned to use dicamba products sold by Bayer, BASF and Syngenta on genetically modified soybeans and cotton during the summer growing season, and for the agrichemical companies.

Environmental activists have objected to dicamba herbicides because they are known to drift away and damage other crops that are not resistant.

But farm groups had warned the court ruling, if fully enforced by the federal government, could financially hurt growers who will plant their next crops in the spring. The groups had said most growers had already determined which seeds and chemicals they will use and may struggle to shift away from dicamba herbicides or crops that tolerate the chemical.

“We are very appreciative of EPA’s decision to let us get through the 2024 growing season by using any product already in the delivery pipeline,” said Josh Gackle, president of the American Soybean Association and a North Dakota soybean farmer.

U.S. District Court Judge David Bury in Arizona last week vacated the EPA’s registrations of dicamba-based weedkillers from 2020, saying the agency violated procedures mandating public input. The ruling affected Bayer’s XtendiMax, BASF’s Engenia and Sygnenta’s Tavium, commonly used herbicides on U.S. farms.

Bayer soybeans that resist dicamba-based herbicide are the No. 2 most-planted soybeans in the United States, though not all are sprayed with the chemical. Bayer and Syngenta welcomed the EPA’s decision to let farmers use existing supplies. BASF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The EPA said on Wednesday it authorized the sale and distribution of dicamba products “that were already in the possession of growers or in the channels of trade and outside the control of pesticide companies” before the court ruling on Feb. 6.

The agency “received ample evidence that millions of gallons” of dicamba products meant to be sprayed on crops had already entered trade channels, according to a statement.

The Arizona court decision won’t affect Canadian farmers, Bayer Canada said last week.

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Earlier this week, a federal court judge “vacated” the U.S. registrations of several dicamba-based herbicides, saying the Environmental Protection Agency “violated procedures mandating public input,” Reuters reported.

The ruling affects Bayer’s XtendiMax, BASF’s Engenia and Sygnenta’s Tavium. The herbicides are applied during the growing season to soybeans and cotton crops that have genetic tolerance to dicamba.

The change in registration status doesn’t affect Canadian growers, said Ginger Rozmus, Bayer Crop Science Canada communications spokesperson.

“The recent court ruling in the U.S. has no impact on Canada’s use or registration of Roundup Xtend 2 and XtendiMax 2 herbicide with VaporGrip technology,” she said in an email.

Further, she said, soybeans that have been sprayed with dicamba can still be exported to the United States.

“The recent U.S. ruling is a result of a procedural error and not related to the safety of the product,” Rozmus said.

“There are no changes to MRLs (maximum residue levels) enabling export of agricultural products.”

While Canadian farmers can relax, the court decision could have massive implications for soybean and cotton growers in the U.S.

The ruling could impact more than 50 million acres of dicamba-tolerant soybeans and cotton, says the American Soybean Association.

“If the administration does not issue an existing stocks order so we can use the millions of dollars of product already ordered for spring planting, we are in a world of hurt,” said Josh Gackle, ASA president and a soybean grower from North Dakota.

The timing of the ruling is problematic because most farmers have already ordered their seed and herbicides for this growing season.

“There are few alternative products available to cover the capacity of a nationwide switch,” the Soybean Association said.

The court in Arizona ruled that the EPA failed to provide public notice and a comment period before re-registering dicamba products in October 2020.

“The court outlined the massive damage to stakeholders that were deprived of their opportunity to comment, such as growers that do not use over-the-top dicamba,” said the Centre for Food Safety, an environmental group and one of the plaintiffs in the case.

The Feb. 6 court ruling is the latest twist in a complicated story related to dicamba.

After dicamba-tolerant soybeans and cotton entered the market, there were thousands of reported cases of dicamba drift and damage to other crops in 2017. Part of the problem was that many growers used older formulations of dicamba that were more volatile.

The University of Missouri estimated that 3.6 million acres of soybeans suffered off-target damage in 2017, and there were 2,700 complaints across the U.S.

In response, the U.S. EPA introduced label changes for in-crop spraying of dicamba, saying it could only be applied at lower wind speeds and during daytime hours to avoid temperature inversions that can cause drift.

Dicamba drift has also been an issue in Ontario. A grower may plant Xtend soybeans with tolerance to dicamba on one field, but the next field over could have beans that are sensitive to dicamba.

Drift has been less of a problem in Manitoba’s soybean industry, possibly because the province has a cooler climate and growers apply herbicides early in the growing season.

The drift complaints in the U.S. led to lawsuits, and environmental groups challenged the EPA in court.

In June 2020, a U.S. court ruled that the EPA understated the risk related to the drift of the herbicide. It vacated the registration for over-the-top use of dicamba products.

However, the EPA decided farmers could use their existing supplies “before it eventually reauthorized use again with new restrictions in October 2020,” said CropLife.com.

That EPA decision prompted another lawsuit, which led to the Feb 6. court ruling in Arizona.

The American Soybean Association and other farm groups are asking the EPA to issue an existing stocks order as soon as possible so growers can use dicamba over the top in soy and cotton crops in 2024.

––Robert Arnason writes for the Western Producer from Manitoba.

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Environmental activists cheered the court for halting use of the dicamba-based herbicides, which are known to drift away and damage crops that cannot tolerate the chemical.

Some farm groups and agribusinesses said the ruling, if enforced by the federal government, risks hurting farmers financially and reducing options for fighting weeds that are increasingly developing resistance to a limited number of herbicides.

U.S. District Court judge David Bury in Arizona vacated the Environmental Protection Agency’s registrations of dicamba-based herbicdes from 2020, saying the agency violated procedures mandating public input. The ruling affects Bayer’s XtendiMax, BASF’s Enginia and Sygnenta’s Tavium, commonly used herbicides on U.S. farms.

Bayer soybeans that resist dicamba-based herbicide are the second-most planted soybeans in the United States.

The companies said they disagreed with the ruling and were waiting for direction from the EPA, which said it was reviewing the decision.

“Most soybean and cotton farmers have made seed and chemistry purchase decisions and, in some cases, are preparing to plant their 2024 crop in the coming weeks,” BASF said. “This order may threaten the livelihoods of soybean and cotton farmers who rely on over-the-top dicamba to control resistant weeds.”

The ruling bars farmers from spraying the dicamba products in the upcoming growing season unless the EPA allows already-shipped batches to be used, said Meredith Stevenson, staff attorney for the Center for Food Safety.

The centre called the decision “a vital victory for farmers and the environment.”

In June 2020, a U.S. appeals court blocked dicamba-based herbicide sales and ruled the EPA understated risks related to its use.

The EPA, under former president Donald Trump, subsequently said farmers could use their existing supplies before it eventually reauthorized use again with new restrictions in October 2020.

Under president Joe Biden, the agency in December 2021 questioned whether dicamba herbicides could be sprayed safely on soybeans and cotton without posing “unreasonable risks” to other crops.

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Environmental activists cheered the court for halting use of the dicamba-based herbicides, which are known to drift away and damage crops that cannot tolerate the chemical.

Some farm groups and agribusinesses said the ruling, if enforced by the federal government, risks hurting farmers financially and reducing options for fighting weeds that are increasingly developing resistance to a limited number of herbicides.

U.S. District Court Judge David Bury in Arizona this week vacated the Environmental Protection Agency’s registrations of dicamba-based weedkillers from 2020, saying the agency violated procedures mandating public input. The ruling affects Bayer’s XtendiMax, BASF’s Enginia and Sygnenta’s Tavium, commonly used herbicides on U.S. farms.

Bayer soybeans that resist dicamba-based herbicide are the No. 2-most planted soybeans in the United States.

The companies said they disagreed with the ruling and were waiting for direction from the EPA. The EPA said it was reviewing the decision.

“Most soybean and cotton farmers have made seed and chemistry purchase decisions and, in some cases, are preparing to plant their 2024 crop in the coming weeks,” BASF said. “This order may threaten the livelihoods of soybean and cotton farmers who rely on over-the-top dicamba to control resistant weeds.”

The ruling bars farmers from spraying the dicamba products in the upcoming growing season unless the EPA allows already-shipped batches to be used, said Meredith Stevenson, staff attorney for the Center for Food Safety. The center called the decision “a vital victory for farmers and the environment.”

In June 2020, a U.S. appeals court blocked dicamba-based herbicide sales and ruled the EPA understated risks related to its use.

The EPA, under former President Donald Trump, subsequently said farmers could use their existing supplies before it eventually reauthorized use again with new restrictions in October 2020.

Under President Joe Biden, the agency in December 2021 questioned whether dicamba weedkillers could be sprayed safely on soybeans and cotton without posing “unreasonable risks” to other crops.

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