Over-the-Top Uses of Dicamba
Published
2/14/2024
This news probably feels like déjà vu.
On February 6, 2024, a federal court in Arizona vacated the registration of Dicamba for over-the-top uses. This is similar to what happened in June of 2020. Also like 2020, the EPA has now responded by issuing an Existing Stocks Order allowing farmers to use existing stocks of Dicamba products for over-the-top use on Dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybeans. This Order addresses use of the formerly-registered dicamba products and authorizes limited sale and distribution of dicamba products that are already in the possession of growers or in the channels of trade and outside the control of the pesticide companies.
More on the court's decision: The court found that EPA violated the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and Administrative Procedure Act (APA) when it issued registrations for the products without notice and comment and instead relied upon previous registrations—which were vacated—to determine that “the [over-the-top] OTT dicamba applications in 2020 did not meet the ‘new use’ definition.”
For more information, visit the EPA's website.