EPA Takes Swift Action on Existing Stocks for Dicamba Products
On Feb. 14, EPA issued an Existing Stocks Order for Dicamba Products Previously Registered for Over-the-Top Use on Dicamba-Tolerant Cotton and Soybean. The order addresses use of the formerly registered dicamba products and authorizes limited sale and distribution of those products already in the possession of growers or in the trade channels outside the control of the manufacturing companies.
This order follows a Feb. 6 ruling by the U.S. District Court of Arizona that vacated the 2020 registrations for three dicamba products – XtendiMax (Bayer), Engenia (BASF), and Tavium (Syngenta) used for over-the-top applications on dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybeans. Per the court ruling, these products are unregistered and cannot be sold or distributed except as provided in the Existing Stocks Order.
In the order, EPA defines “existing stocks” as previously registered pesticide products currently in the U.S. that were packaged, labeled, and released by the manufacturing companies prior to Feb. 6. The order also states that end users of existing stocks must use the formerly registered products consistent with the previously approved labeling for the products and must cease use of these products by the relevant label date.
Those dates are May 31, 2024 for sale and distribution of the products for use on soybeans, and June 30, 2024 for sale and distribution for use on cotton. Application cutoff date for soybeans is June 30, 2024 and July 30, 2024 for cotton.
Industry Reaction
Several organizations and associations have commended the swift action:
Bayer
“We welcome the EPA’s swift action so customers who have already invested in XtendiMax can continue to use and benefit from the technology this season,” issued Bayer in a statement. “Our top priority is that growers have the products and support they need to have a successful season.”
Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA)
“ARA is extremely grateful for the quick action taken by EPA to issue an Existing Stocks Order for the dicamba product registrations vacated by the federal court in Arizona on February 6, 2024,” said ARA President and CEO Daren Coppock. “This order will allow for the continued distribution, sale, and use of these products within the channels of trade and growers’ possession consistent with the FIFRA approved labels.
“As EPA noted in the order, ARA’s consistent position has been that, absent an EPA order allowing for the limited sale, distribution, and use of existing stocks, there will be unnecessary chaos and economic harm to agricultural retailers, distributors, and the farmers they serve.”
American Soybean Association ASA)
“The court’s decision on dicamba instantly left tens of millions of acres of U.S. farmland in limbo — and in limbo a matter of weeks before spring planting,” said Josh Gackle, ASA president and soybean farmer from North Dakota. “We appreciate the certainty EPA’s existing stocks order provides to farmers from North Dakota where I farm all the way to Florida and everywhere in between. This ruling potentially affects more than 50 million acres of dicamba-tolerant soybeans and cotton—an area larger than the state of Nebraska—so again, we are very appreciative of EPA’s decision to let us get through the 2024 growing season by using any product already in the delivery pipeline.”
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