Will Dicamba Be Available for the 2025 Growing Season?
In early February, a federal court in Arizona vacated EPA’s 2020 registrations for dicamba products to be used in over-the-top applications. In reviewing the case, the court found that EPA to be in violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act when it re-authorized dicamba back in 2020. “Being aware of the practical effects’ of vacatur and difficulties these growers may have in finding effective and legal herbicides to protect dicamba-tolerant crops due to vacatur, the court nevertheless found the seriousness of the agency error, including in part its failure to assess risks and costs for non-users of over-the-top dicamba compelled vacatur,” said the court in its ruling.
Eventually, an EPA ruling was issued that allowed ag retailers to sell what stocks of dicamba they had on hand and growers/applicators were permitted to apply the herbicide to fields for the 2024 growing season (until a certain cut-off date, specified in the ruling language).
Of course, all this begged a simple question among agricultural industry watchers: What happens now for the three major dicamba brands (XtendiMax from Bayer, Engenia from BASF, and Tavium from Syngenta)? Will they be available for the 2025 growing season?
Based upon the evidence, it certainly looks like dicamba will attempt a return. On May 3, Bayer submitted an application to the EPA for a new dicamba herbicide label. Public comments from BASF and Syngenta suggest these companies will do the same.
However, in its proposed new label for dicamba, called KHNP0090, there are some significant changes from the previous ones approved back in 2020. “What we are hearing is [Bayer] is just asking for this application for preemergence, that postemergence application will be gone,” says Kevin “K.J.” Johnson, President of the Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association. “We are also hearing that BASF and Syngenta are likely to do the same thing [with their dicamba applications].”
Johnson also noted that EPA is likely to take its time reviewing this new proposed dicamba label, with a final ruling anticipated to occur in 12 to 16 months. Given an application date of May 2024, this means any new dicamba label won’t be approved until fall of 2025 at the earliest.
Loading ...So, it would appear that for the 2025 growing season, ag retailers and their grower-customers will not have dicamba as an option for weed control in their crop fields.
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