Reuters writer Tina Bellon reported yesterday that, “A federal appeals court on Wednesday will hear oral arguments in a lawsuit brought by environmental groups who have asked the court to review the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2016 approval of Monsanto’s dicamba-based XtendiMax weed killer.
“The groups allege the EPA’s decision to allow the sale of the herbicide violates the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act because the agency failed to perform the required analysis of the risk posed to nearby crops and wildlife of dicamba drift.”
Meanwhile, an update earlier this month from Iowa State University (ISU) Extension indicated that, “While there has been a significant number of acres damaged by dicamba, I am sure it is less than five percent of Iowa’s nearly 10 million soybean acres. Due to this relatively small number of acres affected (in relation to total soybean acres), dicamba injury will not significantly impact Iowa’s productivity in 2018. However, if you are a farmer whose crop has been damaged by dicamba, the fact that the majority of soybean in the state were not affected is of little consolation.”
