Dicamba Good News For Soybean Growers Bad For Waterhemp

On Tuesday EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler announced a five year registration or label for dicamba over the top use on soybeans. That is good news for soybean growers and bad news for waterhemp and giant ragweed! "This decision includes a five year registration providing certainty to growers as they make future purchasing decisions" said Wheeler.

The EPA Federal Label has an application cutoff date of June 30th for soybeans and July 30th for cotton. Getting a Federal Label is the first step for applying dicamba over the top on soybeans. The next step is the Minnesota Department of Agriculture must also approve of dicamba over the top on soybeans. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture Label can be more restrictive than the Federal Label but not less.

If the Minnesota Department of Agriculture approves dicamba and I think they will, I am pretty sure we will still have the June 20 cutoff date or maybe sooner. I suspect the Minnesota Department of Agriculture already had decided if they would approve dicamba in Minnesota if a Federal Label was issued. In addition they probably have already decided how restrictive the label would be for use in Minnesota. We should know soon!