Candid Dicamba Conversation
December 7, 2017 There is a lot of information and opinions being circulated surrounding the dicamba issue, writes Allie Arp on the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) website. She sat down with Ed Anderson, the ISA’s openly candid senior director of research, to get an unbiased look at what’s really happening.
In your own words, can you describe the dicamba situation as it currently stands?
Ed Anderson: It depends who you talk to. There are farmers who are having great success with the use and the effectiveness of the dicamba system. Then there are others who have expressed everything from moderate concern to major frustration. Farmers and we as an organization have been working to have and to promote calm, professional conversations with neighbors, technology providers, applicators and everyone involved. At this point we need to continue to work together and maintain a dialogue because there are so many things we don’t know and won’t know until we do more careful analysis of the use and management of this chemistry in the new transgenic system.
Why is the chemistry and the transgenic system publicly available if it needs more data and research?
EA: The technology companies seem to have presented the most valid and complete dataset they could, the EPA determined that the information was adequate and approved the use of the system’s technology. Like anything there’s always opportunities to collect more data. Experimental data and field observations on efficacy, primary and secondary drift, and off-target symptoms should be analyzed. The next big dataset is going to be yields this year from target and non-target soybean fields.
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