American Soybean Association (ASA) President Richard Wilkins and representatives from the National Cotton Council met Wednesday with Jim Jones, the assistant administrator of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other top EPA officials.

The meeting was scheduled to press EPA on the pending registration of low-volatility formulations of dicamba to be used with dicamba-resistant varieties of soybeans and cotton. The EPA staff reported that they are nearing a registration decision, and urged both ASA and the National Cotton Council to work with our memberships to underscore the proper stewardship and legal use of dicamba.

ASA and cotton leaders reiterated that farmers need new mechanisms to address weed resistance issues. They also stated that it is important to provide ample time for companies and states to be able to provide training for use of the new product. EPA does not plan to make label changes to existing dicamba products.

Wilkins raised the issue of how inefficient it is to prohibit tank mixing, as has been proposed by EPA, because farmers then have to make additional passes through the field. The four-sided field perimeter buffers proposed by EPA were also discussed as unnecessarily burdensome.

Click here to read ASA’s comments on the proposed dicamba registration.