The farmer members of the American Soybean Association (ASA) welcome today’s decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to register Dow’s Enlist Duo herbicide for use with Enlist Duo soybeans. The new low-volatility Enlist Duo herbicide will be utilized with Enlist soybeans, when commercialized, to control resistant and difficult to manage weeds. ASA also called upon foreign markets where U.S. soybeans are exported to quickly review and approve these new biotech events so that they can be commercialized here in the United States without jeopardizing export markets and U.S. farmers can realize their benefit.

“Today’s registration of Enlist Duo herbicide means that America’s soybean farmers are a step closer to having access to another integral mode of action with which they can fight yield-robbing weeds,” said ASA President and Iowa farmer Ray Gaesser. “We now look to our key export partners to approve this trait so that we can realize the full market potential of this product, without fear of jeopardizing our trading relationships with partially approved traits.”

Because of the importance of export markets to U.S. soybean farmers, ASA has had long-standing policy requiring technology providers to seek and obtain approvals in key U.S. soy export markets that have import approval processes before new biotech soybean traits are openly commercialized. ASA works closely with technology companies, other members of the U.S. soy family and value chain, and the U.S. Government to facilitate timely, science-based reviews of new biotech soybean traits both domestically and abroad.