Scientists tracking reported dicamba damage released new data Monday that show the controversial weedkiller’s suspected footprint widening significantly, as numbers of investigations and estimated acres of soybeans injured spiral ever higher, especially across the Midwest.
“The data, compiled by Kevin Bradley, a plant sciences professor at the University of Missouri, now show complaints about the herbicide’s off-target movement have been made in 21 states, in a broad area stretching from North Dakota to Georgia.
“Through surveys of state departments of agriculture, the findings identify at least 2,242 official investigations into dicamba damage nationwide, as of Aug. 10. Estimates from state extension weed scientists, meanwhile, show suspected dicamba damage has affected at least 3.1 million acres of soybeans overall — an area approaching the size of Connecticut.”
Mr. Gray noted that, “The numbers are significant not just for their size and scale, but also for the rate at which they’ve leapt since Bradley conducted a similar survey just three weeks prior, when there were 1,411 investigations in the country across an estimated 2.5 million acres.”
