Ag News
GFB responds to U.S. court ruling that farmers can’t use dicamba
Posted on Jun 04, 2020 at 20:00 PM
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the registration of Xtendimax (Bayer), FeXapan (Corteva), and Engenia (BASF) dicamba herbicides on June 3. The panel acknowledged the difficulties producers may have finding effective & legal herbicides to protect their dicamba tolerant crops but cited the absence of substantial evidence to support the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Jan. 11, 2019, decision to grant a conditional two-year registration for the dicamba products.
Georgia Farm Bureau President Gerald Long issued this statement today regarding the court’s action:
“Georgia cotton and soybean farmers are stunned by the 9th Circuit Court’s unreasonable decision to undo EPA registrations of dicamba, thereby upsetting a seed technology that is widely utilized by farmers for crop protection. Most cotton and soybean producers have purchased seed for the 2020 crop, and most of that seed in Georgia has already been planted. In its decision, the Court acknowledged the adverse impacts to farmers, and stated that farmers ‘have been placed in this situation through no fault of their own.’ That acknowledgement is little help to farmers who have invested their time and money in this crop, and it is wrong for the Court to upend their efforts. We will look for ways to remedy this situation in the best interest of farmers.”
Georgia Farm Bureau sent a letter to the EPA on June 5, cosigned with ag organizations from six other cotton and soybean producing states, asking that the federal agency issue an “Existing Stocks Rule,” or take other administrative actions as soon as possible to allow the use of the affected dicamba products that farmers possess or are already in the supply chain for the 2020 growing season. The Alabama Farmers Federation, Louisiana Farm Bureau, Mississippi Department of Agriculture, Mississippi Farm Bureau, North Carolina Farm Bureau, South Carolina Farm Bureau & Texas Farm Bureau co-signed the letter with GFB.
Read the court’s complete opinion here www.gfb.ag/dicambaopinion
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