News Release
May 19, 2016
Department of Agriculture urges producers to heed label restrictions when applying herbicides
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Agriculture Plant Industries Division’s Pesticide Program reminds producers to explicitly follow all directions for use, restrictions and special precautions found on all pesticide labels.
Dicamba is a useful chemistry registered for use in burndown and preplant applications by the U.S. EPA for the control of many broadleaf weeds in the production of cotton and soybean crops. At this time, there are no Dicamba registered products labeled for use for in-crop application in Bollgard II XtendFlex cotton and Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans. The U.S. EPA is currently working with companies to register Dicamba chemistries that will be excellent tools for farmers once they are approved and registered; however, misuse of the current technology could hinder the approval process.
The use of Dicamba in-crop in Bollgard II XtendFlex cotton and Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans is a violation of federal and state law. Unapproved or off label use could result in penalties.
The goal of Plant Industries Division’s Pesticide Program is to prevent unreasonable adverse effects of pesticide use on non-target crops and the environment while helping assure the availability of pesticides needed to maintain our quality of life. This is accomplished by licensing pesticide applicators and dealers, registering pesticides and performing inspections and investigations in the enforcement of the Missouri Pesticide Use Act and the Missouri Pesticide Registration Act.
The department also administers the Missouri DriftWatch site, a voluntary, online pesticide-sensitive crop locator service to provide a place where producers of pesticide-sensitive specialty crops, including bees, can map their crop and hive locations. Pesticide applicators can use the site to find sensitive crop locations in an effort to minimize the potential for damaging pesticide drift. For more information about this service visit DriftWatch.
Additional information about the Missouri Department of Agriculture can be found at Agriculture.MO.Gov.
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