News

Ag Dept. asks to expand pesticide complaint staff

The Missouri Department of Agriculture is asking the legislature to allow it to expand its pesticide complaint staff.

Complaints have gone up over the past several years as new dicamba formulations hit the market.

Department communications director Sami Jo Freeman tells Brownfield Ag News they have the money to add staff but need legislative approval, “What we’re asking for is appropriations, or permission, to spend that on four new positions for field work.”

And, Freeman says, they’re asking for more funds to create two new positions, “We’ve identified that the case review is kind of where things are getting backlogged. So we are asking permission of the General Assembly to spend money on two new case review specialists. These are new positions that we’re confident are going to help us get to that backlog.”

Freeman says the department has closed dicamba complaint cases from 2016 and part of 2017 and a lot of field work goes into the investigations.