By Jacob Bunge
Chemical makers Bayer AG and BASF SA are pushing to keep a
controversial weedkiller on the market after a federal court in
June blocked its use in U.S. soybean and cotton fields.
The companies are seeking approvals from the Environmental
Protection Agency that would allow farmers to continue spraying
dicamba, a herbicide that can kill hardy weeds but has been blamed
for drifting off fields and damaging millions of acres of
neighboring crops. Bayer and BASF are proposing that farmers mix
the weedkiller with new chemical agents that company officials said
would help dicamba stay where it is sprayed.
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the agency's scientists
are still reviewing the companies' dicamba-based crop sprays. "We
intend to have a decision made by the middle of October," he said
during an Oct. 1 presentation to the Minnesota Farm Bureau.
Bayer and BASF developed their dicamba herbicides and related
biotech soybean and cotton seeds as a solution for weeds like
palmer amaranth and marestail that evolved to resist other widely
used herbicides, including Bayer's Roundup.
Farmers' war against hard-to-kill weeds can push up their cost
of raising a crop, and lift prices for food makers, livestock
producers and consumers. Herbicide-resistant weeds can also
threaten parks and natural lands.
Some farmers and homeowners, however, have blamed dicamba for
evaporating off fields and traveling onto nearby fields and
gardens, shriveling plants and cutting into crop production. State
agriculture departments in the 20 largest soybean-producing states
have received about 915 complaints of dicamba-related damage so far
this year. That figure compares with about 1,560 in 2019 but
remains above the 257 complaints lodged in 2016, the first year the
dicamba-tolerant seeds were sold, according to state agriculture
departments.
In Iowa, dicamba-driven crop damage in 2020 hit its highest
level since the herbicide was invented, Iowa State University
agriculture professors Bob Hartzler and Prashant Jha wrote in July.
"Nearly everyone in agriculture recognizes the widespread injury to
soybean this year is not acceptable," they wrote.
Bayer, which sells the herbicide and crops genetically
engineered to withstand it, agreed in June to pay up to $400
million to settle dicamba-related damage claims. Bayer and BASF
officials said dicamba herbicides can be controlled if farmers
adhere to directions for spraying it, and the companies have
offered training.
The herbicide has deeply divided farmers, said Terry Fuller, a
Poplar Grove, Ark., farmer who deals in agricultural supplies and
also serves as chairman of the Arkansas State Plant Board, which
advises the state on farm matters. After an Aug. 17 presentation to
state lawmakers in Little Rock in which he discussed the need for
dicamba restrictions, Mr. Fuller said he returned to find two of
his tractors, parked about 15 miles apart, had been vandalized.
Plastic had been fed into the oil tanks, causing about $60,000 in
damage, he said.
Following a separate presentation Mr. Fuller gave on dicamba on
Sept. 17, he said a fire burned up 367 bales of his hay, costing
him around $18,000. Mr. Fuller said he notified local authorities
about both episodes.
"To me, it's right and wrong, and I'm not changing from right
until some scientist convinces me they can apply it in their field
and keep it there," said Mr. Fuller, who said he carries a gun
these days. In 2016 an Arkansas farmer was murdered after what
authorities said was a dispute over dicamba-related crop
damage.
In June, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled
that the EPA, when approving the companies' herbicides in 2018,
failed to acknowledge the risks of the herbicides. The ruling
revoked the agency's approval of the herbicides' use on related
biotech crops. That approval was already set to expire by year's
end.
The court's decision had limited effect on farmers this year
because by mid-June many were done spraying dicamba for the season.
An EPA spokesman said the agency will factor the ruling into its
consideration of any new dicamba approvals, which are needed for
farmers to be able to spray crops next year.
Bayer is asking the agency to consider reapproving its dicamba
spray along with an additional chemical agent that the company says
can keep the herbicide from moving. The additive, called an
adjuvant, prevents the formation of dicamba acid, which can
evaporate off of plants and drift on the wind.
"We're hopeful this will allow EPA to use the science and make a
decision," said Alex Zenteno, Bayer's dicamba product manager.
BASF, which is seeking EPA approval for its own dicamba sprays,
also has proposed farmers mix in such a product, developed by BASF,
a spokeswoman said.
Perry Galloway, who farms about 10,000 acres of soybeans, rice
and corn near Gregory, Ark., has used dicamba to kill weeds since
the new sprays came onto the market in 2017. Though the herbicide
damaged some nontolerant crops the first year, he said, he hasn't
had problems since then.
Keeping dicamba on the market is imperative, Mr. Galloway said,
to ensure farmers don't overuse other weedkillers and reduce their
effectiveness. "We need every tool in the toolbox to combat these
weeds, " he said.
Write to Jacob Bunge at jacob.bunge@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 11, 2020 11:14 ET (15:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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