EPA Renews Dicamba Label for Five Years - CropLife

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(Updates with EPA official announcement and company comments)

The not-unexpected move by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to re-register dicamba for over-the-top use on soybeans and cotton on Tuesday speaks volumes about the huge challenges facing U.S. agriculture.

Effective, economical means to deal with weeds are in such short supply that millions of acres of drift damage and lawsuits are not enough to remove dicamba as an option for growers, who will gain access to the products for the next five years with additional restrictions, including an increased buffer zone and nationwide cut-off dates.

“After reviewing substantial amounts of new information, conducting scientific assessments based on the best available science, and carefully considering input from stakeholders we have reached a resolution that is good for our farmers and our environment,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said.

Through the action, EPA approved new registrations for both XtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology (Bayer Crop Science) and Engenia (BASF), and extended the registration for Syngenta’s Tavium Plus VaporGrip Technology. These registrations will expire in 2025, “providing certainty to American agriculture for the upcoming growing season and beyond,” EPA noted.

To manage off-site movement of dicamba, EPA’s 2020 registration adds several restrictions including:

Requiring an approved pH-buffering agent (also called a Volatility Reduction Agent or VRA) be tank mixed with OTT dicamba products prior to all applications to control volatility.
Requiring a downwind buffer of 240 feet and 310 feet in areas where listed species are located.
Prohibiting OTT application of dicamba on soybeans after June 30 and cotton after July 30.
Simplifying the label and use directions so that growers can more easily determine when and how to properly apply dicamba.

The 2020 registration labels also provide new flexibility for growers and state, said EPA. For example, there are opportunities for growers to reduce the downwind spray buffer for soybeans through use of certain approved hooded sprayers as an alternative control method. EPA also recognizes and supports the important authority FIFRA section 24 gives the states for issuing locally appropriate regulations for pesticide use. If a state wishes to expand the federal OTT uses of dicamba to better meet special local needs, the agency will work with them to support their goals.

“The need for Engenia herbicide is greater than ever before due to increased weed resistance. When the weeds win, farmers see the impact to their livelihoods, harvests and yields,” Scott Kay, Vice President of U.S. Crop, BASF Agricultural Solutions said in response to the decision. “Controlling resistant weeds is not only a physical challenge for farmers, it also can have a significant financial impact. It is estimated that certain resistant weed populations can reduce yields by 50% or more. This means that farmers planting dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybeans could potentially stand to lose more than $10 billion if they lost access to dicamba-based herbicides, like Engenia herbicide.”

Bayer estimates its Xtend soybeans were planted on around 50 million of the 84 million acres of soybeans planted in the U.S. in 2020.

Nonetheless, dicamba’s re-registration for 2021 was not a given, following four years of widespread drift damage to non-dicamba-tolerant soybeans as well as to thousands of acres of vegetables, fruit, gardens, and residential trees — and the negative publicity that came with it in abundance. Even with a five-year registration, the events of the summer of 2020 drove home that legal challenges may still throw that certainty in doubt.

In June, Ninth Circuit Court in California delivered a shock to the ag community when it vacated EPA’s approval of dicamba products, leaving ag retailers and growers in-limbo mid-spraying season, not to mention the COVID-19-related stresses with which they were already dealing.

Acknowledging growers’ predicament, five days later EPA canceled the labels of the three dicamba products, XtendiMax (Bayer), Engenia (BASF), and FeXapan (Corteva AgriScience), but allowed growers to use existing stocks of the products. Syngenta’s Tavium was unaffected by the Court’s ruling as its registration came after the 2018 decision to which the court case pertained.

New Launches from BASF, Bayer

In connection with the dicamba re-registration, BASF announced it plans to launch Sentris buffering technology and Engenia Prime herbicide. Sentris, which will launch in time for use in the 2021 growing season, is a liquid buffering agent that when added to a dicamba spray solution, will increase and stabilize the solution pH and reduce the potential for volatility. It has also been proven to reduce the potential for tank-contamination by helping with spray system clean-out and hygiene. It will be another tool for farmers to use with their Engenia herbicide application mixes to help minimize the potential for off-target applications, BASF said.

Engenia Prime will offer multiple sites of action and is most effective pre-emergent, to help farmers manage weed challenges while providing application timing flexibility. Engenia Prime is not yet registered for purchase or use and is awaiting EPA approval.

Bayer also has sought registration for a volatility-reducing agent to be tank-mixed with XtendiMax, but has not yet provided specific information or even a name for the product.

Jackie Pucci is Senior Writer for CropLife, PrecisionAg Professional, and AgriBusiness Global magazines. See all author stories here.