EPA plans to allow 3 new dicamba herbicides

In a win for big agriculture, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to register three new dicamba herbicides for use on soybeans and cotton that are genetically modified to tolerate the weedkiller. The proposal, announced July 23, comes despite two court orders, in 2020 and 2024, to ban such uses because dicamba is prone to volatilizing and harming nontargeted plants on neighboring land.The EPA began allowing use of dicamba herbicides on genetically modified soybeans and cotton in 2017 to combat weeds that are resistant to the widely used herbicide glyphosate. Every year since, states have received numerous complaints about dicamba damaging nonmodified soybeans, orchards, gardens, and trees. Dicamba is volatile, particularly when temperatures spike, making it prone to drifting off-site. Environmental groups sued the EPA, which led a federal appeals court to overturn the approval in 2020. But just a few months later, the EPA registered dicamba again for use on genetically modified soybeans and cotton. Environmental groups sued the agency again, and in 2024, the US District Court for the District of Arizona ordered the EPA to cancel the 2020 registration.The EPA’s latest proposal would put the controversial herbicide, made by BASF, Bayer Crop Science, and Syngenta Crop Protection, back on the market for use on genetically modified soybeans and cotton with a few new restrictions. The formulations have not changed, but the labels have, in terms of how and when the products can be applied. Specifically, the proposal limits applications to no more than two per year.