Dicamba is now a restricted use pesticide, thanks to guidelines issued recently by the Environmental Protection Agency. The guidelines were reached through a deal between the Trump Administration and the three companies that make dicamba, including Monsanto, BASF, and DuPont. All of the changes will be on product labels heading into the 2018 season.
Dr. Ahmit Jhala, Assistant Professor with the University of Nebraska Agronomy Department, says anyone applying dicamba on crops next year will need to go through training first. That requirement applies to both commercial and private applicators. Another new requirement is dicamba applicators will need to be much more detailed in their record-keeping.
Another label requirement for dicamba use in 2018 is the product can no longer be applied when wind speed is more than 10 miles-per-hour. A fourth guideline from the EPA is to only apply dicamba during the daytime hours. The daytime application helps to prevent temperature inversion, which can increase the volatility of the product and trigger drifting.
The last new guideline has to do with proper cleaning of the tanks before and after dicamba application.
Tank contamination was an issue in certain cases of dicamba drifting. The goal of the new label requirements is to prevent as much off-target drift as possible.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.