Credit Daniel Breen / KUAR News
State agriculture regulators have once again shifted the rules governing a controversial herbicide that’s been blamed for widespread crop damage.
Members of the Arkansas State Plant Board on Monday voted to change the cutoff date for spraying dicamba, an herbicide used on genetically-modified cotton and soybeans.
The weedkiller, which has been responsible for thousands of complaints of damage in the state, can now be sprayed legally until the end of June, later than last year’s May 25 cutoff. That’s despite research from the University of Arkansas showing the chemical can vaporize at higher temperatures, causing damage to non-tolerant plants.
Graphic courtesy of Arkansas Department of Agriculture.
The Arkansas State Plant Board will hold a virtual public hearing via Zoom on May 3, 2021 to receive comments on proposed changes to the Plant Board rules on dicamba usage. The proposed rule change may be viewed here.
Members of the public desiring to make verbal comments at the May 3 hearing must pre-register here. Pre-registration began April 14 and continues through April 29, 2021. Written comments were accepted through April 22, 2021.
The State Plant Board will also hold a special called board meeting after the conclusion of the public hearing. You can find more information about the public hearing, special called board meeting, dicamba updates, laws, and regulations here.
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DFP Staff
Arkansas petitioners say they are hoping to see a rule change that will expand dicamba application times in their state, allowing them to better control Palmer amaranth. State Plant Board votes to align dicamba regulations with federal label. Proposed changes moving forward to public comment period.
By a narrow 8-7 vote, the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s State Plant Board chose to initiate the rulemaking process that could potentially allow Arkansas farmers and applicators to follow the federal label when using dicamba herbicide.
Arkansas currently has the earliest dicamba spray cutoff date in the country at May 25. The proposed rule would allow the over-the-top spraying of Engenia, XtendiMax, and Tavium through June 30 on soybeans and through July 30 on cotton. The proposed rule will also require a pH buffering agent, also called a Volatility Reducing Agent, to be tank-mixed with dicamba, and will require a downwind buf
Staff
The proposed rule would allow the over-the-top spraying of Engenia, Xtendimax, and Tavium through June 30 on soybeans and through July 30 on cotton. The Arkansas Plant Board has voted to allow farmers and applicators to follow the federal label for dicamba.
Mar 08, 2021
The Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s State Plant Board held a regularly scheduled board meeting on Wednesday, March 3, 2021.
During the meeting, the board considered a petition for rulemaking seeking changes to the current dicamba rule, Section XIII (B) of the Arkansas Rules on Pesticide Use, found at agriculture.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/AR Regulation on Pesticide Classification Rev. 01-20.pdf. After discussion of the petition, the board voted to initiate rulemaking and proposed a rule that, if adopted, would allow farmers and applicators to follow the federal label in the use of dicamba.