Arkansas Moving Closer to Seasonal Dicamba Ban

Arkansas is now one step away from establishing a seasonal dicamba ban. The Arkansas State Plant Board advanced a proposal last week saying the use of dicamba should be prohibited from April 16th to October 31st, 2018. The move comes after farmers complained that soybeans and other crops were damaged when the herbicide drifted away from where it was sprayed this summer. However, another group of farmers petitioned the state against the ban. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Monsanto previously submitted a petition asking the board to reject the proposed cutoff date for sprayings and warned the company might file a lawsuit if the board denied the request. A Monsanto spokesperson told the newspaper “volatility is not a problem” and that science did not support the plant board's decision. However, experts say dicamba is risky because it can vaporize and drift across fields after they are sprayed.