Eric Lipton, “Crops in 25 States Damaged by Unintended Drift of Weed Killer,” The New York Times, November 1, 2017.

SUMMARY:

“Dicamba has damaged more than 3.6 million acres of soybean crops, or about 4 percent of all soybeans planted in the United States this year.”  Reuben Baris, acting chief of the herbicide branch at the EPA, calls the damage “unacceptable” and suggests that the actual number of drift incidents could be up to 5 times greater than he over 2,700 reports due to a large number of incidents going unreported.  Impacts to yields are still unknown, according to the EPA.   The initial approval of dicamba for over the top use expires after only 2 years.  This article states that EPA officials made it clear that re-approval is in jeopardy if the companies can’t find ways to mitigate damage.  FULL TEXT