This week, ASA encourages soy growers to take a minute and submit comments on USDA-APHIS's petition for deregulation of Monsanto's dicamba-tolerant soybean and cotton varieties. Comments on the petition have been extended and are due by midnight on Friday, Oct. 10. ASA's official comments can be found here.

ASA's stance on Monsanto's petition includes the following points:

• ASA supports the option to deregulate dicamba-tolerant soybeans and cotton without restriction as recommended by the draft Environmental Impact Statement on these technologies.
• Soybean farmers need and want new technologies such as those dicamba-resistant traits under your review to increase yields, manage weed pressure and glyphosate-resistant weeds, and to keep their farming operations profitable. Consumers in the United States and around the world are dependent on farmers adopting new technologies to feed a growing world population.
• Dicamba has been used safely in crops for decades to control weeds. Any questions or concerns about the use of dicamba in a dicamba-tolerant soybean cropping system should continue to be addressed through the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate the safe use of registered herbicides.
• Concerns about off-target movement of dicamba when applied in-season to dicamba-tolerant soybeans have been addressed by the petitioner through new product formulation as well as stewardship measures and education to be undertaken.
•  APHIS has made a commitment to a more streamlined and transparent approvals framework, and we expect APHIS to follow through with its process improvements in making deregulation decisions on this and other biotech traits.

More information on the petition for deregulation along with the online form to submit comments can be found by clicking here.