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Specialty crop growers have off-target dicamba drift concerns

The chairman of the Save Our Crops Coalition says specialty crop growers are worried they’ll face more challenges this year with off-target movement of dicamba.

Last year 10 states reported damage from dicamba in parts of the Corn Belt and Mid-south.

Steve Smith, director of agriculture for Indiana-based Red Gold tomatoes says there is no residue tolerance for dicamba on all food crops.  “Any off-target movement doesn’t just result in yield loss, it results in crop destruction,” he says. “That makes it more critical that everyone follows label instructions so that it doesn’t happen.”

He tells Brownfield the first line of defense for specialty crop growers is to make sure their fields are registered on the Field Watch/Drift Watch websites so applicators know where sensitive crops are located.  “But those only apply to vegetables and other specialty crops like that,” he says.  “It doesn’t really apply to all those sensitive crops out there like non-dicamba soybeans.” 

Smith says the rules on the new dicamba labels state the wind has to be blowing away from the specialty crop.  “This was all started with the Dow version on 2,4-D, Enlist,” he says.  “They were the first to recognize what the problem was.  It doesn’t matter if the wind is blowing toward the specialty crop all these new types of herbicides are going to cause damage.”

He says the organization has also urged their growers to personally reach out to their neighbors to let them know where specialty crops are grown and what the risk and costs could be associated with any off-target movement.

The Save Our Crops Coalition is a group of farm interests organized to help protect crops that are susceptible to spray drift from 2,4-D and dicamba.

AUDIO: Steve Smith, Red Gold