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BASF and Monsanto react to dicamba bans

The maker of the dicamba-mix product now banned in Arkansas disagrees with the ban because the decision was made after testimony from many growers who are using Engenia with success. BASF defended the herbicide technology in a statement provided to Brownfield. More than 600 dicamba injury complaints have been filed in Arkansas. The Arkansas ban goes into effect Tuesday.

On Friday, the state of Missouri put a temporary ban in place on all dicamba mix products sold: BASF’s Engenia, DuPont’s Fexapan and Monsanto’s Xtendimax. As of Friday, 140 dicamba injury complaints had been made to the Missouri Department of Agriculture, involving more than 200-thousand acres of soybeans.

Monsanto issued two statements on both bans.  It supports the Missouri temporary ban, saying Missouri has vowed to make the technology available again as quickly as possible to growers, with perhaps some local use restrictions.

Monsanto says it sympathizes with Arkansas farmers who’ve had crop injury but the decision to ban dicamba in Arkansas was premature because the causes of crop injury have not been fully investigated. Monsanto doesn’t sell dicamba products in Arkansas, but says it’s concerned the ban in the middle of a growing season will hurt many Arkansas farmers.