With the recent drama around dicamba and the use of those products
in RR2Xtend® soybeans this season, it begs the question of what the future may
entail for dicamba. As a field rep, I
don’t have any special insight or “inside information” on the issue, but I have
noticed some interesting developments:
· It has been known for quite some time that the
federal label was set to expire in December 2020 for ExtendiMax™, Enginia™, and
Fexepan™. Activity by Bayer® and BASF® regarding
the renewal process and/or the attempt to garner renewal has been very quiet
·
There has been limited public statements or
advertising from Bayer® and/or BASF® addressing the pending situation
· Bayer® has announced it will abandon its construction
efforts on a dicamba plant in Louisiana http://news.agropages.com/News/NewsDetail---35631.htm
· The insight from around the country is Bayer®
has moved most all of their soybean production this summer (targeted for the 2021
growing season) to XtendFlex® - a three-way herbicide stack of glyphosate,
glufosinate (Liberty™), and dicamba
· I’ve recently read and written about links of
dicamba to cancer http://news.agropages.com/News/NewsDetail---35137-e.htm
· Bayer® is currently trying to settle glyphosate
and cancer litigation at a price tag around US$10 bil, making the company very
sensitive to any further litigation exposure
· Bayer® has plans in the soybean pipeline of
additional herbicide stacks that will provide growers with several options in
the near future. This will help minimize
the long-term risk around losing the use of dicamba http://news.agropages.com/News/NewsDetail---34165.htm
· The federal government will have increased
pressure to institute new strategies and criteria to approve pesticides while
keeping human and environment risk low.
This may or may not include the EPA and garners the question of – will the
EPA and/or feds approve any controversial chemicals while a new review system
is being developed? http://news.agropages.com/News/NewsDetail---35698.htm
Don’t get me wrong, I hope dicamba
is available in 2021 for use in soybeans in our region and across the US, but
it looks like a steep (not impossible) hill to climb at this point. Dicamba has proven itself as a valuable tool with
great performance and it mixes very easily in the spray tank for application. Also, as we evaluate the Group 00 and Group 0
soybean maturity zones in our region, most of our best varieties today do contain
RR2Xtend technology. Lastly, Pioneer has
a significant portion of our seed production in the area dedicated to varieties
with dicamba technology and thus the industry may have concerns meeting demand if
growers insist on having stacked herbicide technologies in their soybean seed
for 2021.
If dicamba is unavailable due to
regulatory issues in soybeans next year, farmers will have primarily the
following stacked herbicide technology options available for soybean planting
next season:
- -- Enlist-3® soybeans with 2,4-D choline,
glyphosate and glufosinate (Liberty™) post-emerge herbicide technology options
- -- XtendFlex® soybeans with only glyphosate and
glufosinate (Liberty™) post-emerge technology options (dicamba technology
present, but unavailable to utilize)
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