DTN writer Pamela Smith reported last week that, “Illinois farmers using dicamba-tolerant technology face additional restrictions in 2020. The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) has announced a cutoff date of June 20 and a temperature cutoff of 85 degrees Fahrenheit for dicamba formulations used with the Xtend cropping system.
“These new cutoff requirements are in addition to the federal label requirements that apply to Engenia, XtendiMax, FeXapan and Tavium. Illinois is the first state toannounce stricter requirements for the coming year in an attempt to give farmers answers as they purchase seed for next season.
“In a news release, IDOA Director John Sullivan said the Department will be forwarding a 24 (c) registration request to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for Illinois specific labels for the use of dicamba on soybeans in 2020 requiring the following additional provisions:
1. DO NOT apply this product if the air temperature at 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 of application exceeds 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
(Local National Weather Service forecast are available at https://www.weather.gov/….)
2. DO NOT apply this product after June 20, 2020.
3. Before making an application of this product, the applicator must consult the FieldWatch sensitive crop registry (https://www.fieldwatch.com/…) and comply with all associated record keeping label requirements.
4. Maintain the label-specified downwind buffer between the last treated row and the nearest downfield edge of any Illinois Nature Preserves Commission site.
5. It is best to apply product when the wind is blowing away from sensitive areas, which include but are not limited to bodies of water and non-residential, uncultivated areas that may harbor sensitive plant species.”
The DTN article added that, “The announcement of new restrictions comes after the state faced a meteoric rise in alleged dicamba-injury complaints this year, said Doug Owens, chief of the IDOA’s bureau of environmental programs. ‘We’re at 963 total misuse complaints, and 724 of those are alleged dicamba-related’ from 259 individuals, he told DTN.”
