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Monsanto “open letter” to growers about dicamba damage
Monsanto company has issued an open letter to its farmer customers who have any signs of possible dicamba damage to soybeans. John Chambers is Monsanto’s North American technology-development-&-agronomy lead, “And the letter is really to restate that we absolutely want to hear from our customers.” The number to call is 1-844-RRXTEND.
Chambers says there’s been overwhelming success with the Xtend technology but says Monsanto is taking the reported problems “very seriously.” He tells Brownfield Ag News, “We’ve had a lot of great success with the system, the weed control and the overall system. But we also know and we’ve gotten calls from customers that HAVE seen some symptomology, some dicamba off-target symptomology (leaf cupping).”
Monsanto has agronomic specialists who are working with farmers and has deployed scientists from its Climate Corporation to review weather data to see how it might have affected applications. Chambers says while there are many ways drift damage can happen through application error, spraying during temperature inversions appears to be a big factor.
There have been 14-hundred reports of dicamba injury in 17 states on 2-and-a-half-Million acres, according to the University of Missouri’s weed scientist Dr. Kevin Bradley. Monsanto says Xtend soybeans and cotton have been planted on 25-Million acres.
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Dicamba drift has affected 120 acres of the 330 acres of beans I planted. This “might” result in over $20,000 less in my pocket this fall to feed my family. If anybody thinks that is a small amount of money, and laughed at what I typed, please send me a check for the $20,000 to Paul Pudwill, PO Box 93, Avon, SD. 57315
I hope I never hear the words Extend Beans again. Do unto others as they do to you. Some words Monsanto doesn’t live by.
#John Combest, Monsanto public relations.