The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an order today allowing existing stocks of over-the-top Dicamba to be used in 2024. Existing stocks refers to those stocks of previously registered pesticide products that are currently in the United States and were packaged, labeled, and released for shipment prior to Feb. 6, 2024. Distributors, retailers and others who were in possession of these products on Feb. 6 may sell and distribute the over-the-top Dicamba until the end-use date in their state.
“We are pleased with the action from the EPA,” Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said. “It provides certainty to the producers who had already made planting decisions for 2024.”
A Feb. 6 ruling by the U.S. District Court of Arizona in Tucson had vacated the 2020 registrations for Bayer Xtendimax, BASF Engenia and Syngenta Tavium used in over-the-top applications on Dicamba-tolerant soybeans. American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall also released a comment saying how grateful they are for the EPA’s decision to allow farmers to use existing stocks of dicamba for the upcoming planting season.
AFBF sent a letter to EPA earlier this week following a recent federal court ruling in Arizona, which vacated the registration of three dicamba products, critically important tools for farmers in fighting resistant weeds.
“We are grateful to EPA for hearing farmers’ and ranchers’ concerns and addressing them quickly to ensure we have access to the critical tools needed to protect our crops this season. Without EPA stepping in, farmers and ranchers across the country were facing uncertainty and financial risk.
“Farmers are committed to the safe use of all crop protection tools, and many had already made planting decisions with dicamba-tolerant crop systems in place for the season. We rely on science-based guidance from EPA, and we appreciate the agency standing by farmers and science in this decision today.”
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NDDA/AFBF
