Dicamba Back in the Line of Fire
February 2, 2022 Since its launch as part of a cropping system, the popular herbicide dicamba has had plenty of regulatory hoops to jump through. In fact, not too many years after it was originally approved for use, the product’s label was cancelled mid-season due to a legal ruling.
However, it seemed as if all these issues had gone away once October 2020 rolled around. At the end of that month, the EPA reaffirmed dicamba’s product label. The note I received following this announcement from Daren Coppock, President and CEO of the Agricultural Retailers Association, said it all: “Ag retailers and their farmer-customers have already been working to make decisions for the 2021 growing season while waiting for clarity on if dicamba would be available for use,” said Coppock. “Now farmers and their retailers can make firmer plans for the next five years with this critical question answered.”
So, based upon this EPA decision, it seemed as if dicamba’s future until was secure until 2025. That’s why the recent email I received from the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association (IFCA) was so disturbing.
On January 31, IFCA President Kevin “K.J.” Johnson sent out a call for action to members regarding two pieces of legislation making their way through the state’s government. HB4363 sponsored by Rep. Anne Moeller states “that on and after January 1, 2023, no person or entity may use any product containing dicamba for agricultural, commercial, or residential use within the state.” The other proposed bill, HB4558, would ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides on the same date.
Naturally, wrote Johnson, IFCA is opposed to both pieces of legislation. “Both bills would severely restrict IFCA members,” he said. “IFCA believes that any ban on any pesticide or making a pesticide a restricted use product should only be addressed by USEPA, not the Illinois General Assembly for political reasons.”
Loading ...It will be interesting to see if either of these bills makes it further through the legislative process in Illinois. However, this incident does serve as a warning to other dicamba (and crop protection product) users in other states that the industry’s products remain very much in the crosshairs of anti-modern agriculture groups.
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