St. Paul, MN: The Minnesota Department of Agriculture
(MDA) today announced new restrictions on the use of the herbicide dicamba
in Minnesota for the 2018 growing season. Dicamba is primarily used for
controlling post-emergence broadleaf weeds. The new restrictions are in
addition to those announced by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in
October. The affected formulations are XtendiMax by Monsanto, Engenia by BASF,
and FeXapan by DuPont. The decision follows the MDA’s ongoing
investigation and an informal survey last summer into reports of crop damage
from alleged dicamba off-target movement.
In an effort to prevent dicamba-related complaints in
2018, Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson thoroughly reviewed
the new EPA label restrictions, the MDA's survey results, peer reviewed literature,
and sought extensive input from the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association Drift
Task Force, University of Minnesota Extension weed scientists, and the
pesticide manufacturers on the underlying causes of damage. Based on the
review, the Commissioner set forth these additional protocols for dicamba use
for the 2018 growing season:
Cutoff date:
Do not apply after June 20. Setting an application cutoff
date of June 20 is expected to help reduce the potential for volatility
(movement). The majority of Minnesota soybeans are still in the vegetative
growth stage by June 20 and research has shown that plants in the vegetative
stage are less affected than those in the reproductive stage.
Cutoff
temperature:
Do not apply if the air temperature of the field, at the
time of application, is over 85 degrees Fahrenheit or if the National Weather
Service’s forecasted high temperature for the nearest available location for
the day exceeds 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Research has shown that dicamba
volatilization injury increased with an increase in temperatures.
“Dicamba is an important tool for soybean growers to
manage weeds and I believe these additional restrictions will minimize the
off-target movement,” Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson said. “I want
to thank University of Minnesota Extension, and in particular Professor Jeff
Gunsolus, for his research report on dicamba, and the Minnesota Soybean
Growers for their input on this important issue. We will be closely monitoring
the herbicide’s performance with these restrictions in 2018.”
In Minnesota, the XtendiMax, Engenia, and FeXapan
formulations of dicamba are “Restricted Use Pesticides” for retail sale to and
for use only by Certified Applicators.
