By Jacob Bunge
A newly approved herbicide will allow farmers to open a new front in their war against weeds next year, but some fear fallout for their own crops from illegal spraying of related chemicals.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday approved Monsanto Co.’s XtendiMax, a powerful new formulation of the powerful weed killer known as dicamba. Farmers and the company have said the new version is needed to combat pest plants that can choke out soybean and cotton plants, and which can’t be killed by other sprays.
XtendiMax was specifically designed for use with newly engineered soybean and cotton plants, which were also developed by Monsanto. These plants were designed to resist the weed killer, which is the only form of the herbicide allowed to be sprayed over the tops of these plants.
The company had intended to release both products in tandem, but, because the EPA had yet to approve the herbicide, the company had a limited release of about 1 million acres’ worth of the seeds earlier this year.
As company expects planting of the seeds to broaden to 18 million acres in 2017, some fear farmers could be tempted to use older, cheaper versions of dicamba on the plants illegally. Use of older dicamba formulations to clear fields for planting or on crops like corn and grasses isn’t prohibited, but those products’ tendency to drift on the wind led regulators to prohibit their spraying on the new soybean and cotton plants, as the herbicides could spread into nearby fields and damage crops there. XtendiMax was designed not to spread to neighboring fields.
Already in 2016, reports of alleged dicamba damage to crops jumped, agriculture officials and academics said. With weeds poking through fields in the late spring, some farmers allegedly resorted to spraying the Monsanto-developed plants with older versions of dicamba, according to complaints filed with agricultural officials.
Last month, the EPA executed search warrants in southeastern Missouri as part of a broader criminal investigation into alleged misuse of an older version of dicamba, an agency spokeswoman said. The investigation followed more than 100 complaints of alleged drift damage from the herbicide, which allegedly affected more than 41,000 acres of soybeans, peaches, watermelons and other crops in the state. The EPA reported similar complaints from 9 other states.
“We sympathize with growers who have been impacted by farmers who have chosen to break the law and apply dicamba illegally,” a Monsanto spokeswoman said. “We believe most farmers comply with the law and follow stewardship practices for all pesticide applications.”
Even after the new spray comes to market, some worry that low commodity prices and tight budgets will tempt some farmers to continue illegally using older, cheaper versions of the spray, putting more crops at risk around the country.
“The potential is there to be problems next year, just like it has been this year,” said Bob Griffin, an Arkansas- based agricultural consultant.
Monsanto said securing EPA approval for XtendiMax will let the company do more to educate farmers on its use, and the EPA imposed requirements on equipment and the application of the herbicide to lower the risk to neighboring fields. For example, the label bars farmers from spraying the chemical when wind speeds rise above 15 miles an hour.
State lawmakers and officials in affected regions are weighing tougher restrictions on older versions of dicamba already being used. Arkansas state officials on Nov. 21 will discuss potential new curbs to the use of some older dicamba products, such as a ban on spraying from April 15 through Sept. 15, a time when growing crops could be vulnerable to damage from the drifting chemical. Stiffer penalties for illegally using the herbicide have also been discussed.
Damage from drifting dicamba even has fueled disputes between neighbors. Mike Wallace, a 55-year-old farmer who grew soybeans, cotton and corn near Monette, Ark., was shot and killed on Oct. 27 after what Dale Cook, sheriff for Arkansas’Mississippi County, said appeared to be an argument with a neighbor over drift damage to Mr. Wallace’s crops.
A suspect was arraigned on first-degree murder charges last week, according to Curtis Walker, deputy prosecuting attorney for Mississippi County.
Write to Jacob Bunge at jacob.bunge@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 11-13-160714ET Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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