U.S. experts doubt EPA curbs on Monsanto, BASF herbicides will halt crop damage

US specialists doubt that reducing the sale of dicamba, sold by Monsanto and BASF, will actually slow down crop damage. Monsanto is releasing dicamba-resistant soy beans. Does dicamba get into every cell, so that it ends up in the food system?

Overspray of dicamba, trade name Xtend, to neighboring fields is responsible for millions of dollars in crop damage. Depending on soil conditions, Roundup can remain in the soil for up to 4 years, damaging future years of crops. Does dicamba do the same?

Links
Article: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-agriculture-dicamba/u-s-experts-doubt-epa-curbs-on-monsanto-basf-herbicides-will-halt-crop-damage-idUSKBN1CI21K

Dicamba pesticide drift destroying more crops in Arkansas

1. Dicamba spray can be lifted by the wind onto neighboring fields. This drifting spray is killing thousands of acres of cotton, soybeans, fruit trees, and more.
2. Damage to people from dicamba shows up at much lower concentrations than originally though. (Source.)
3. Insurance companies do not cover losses from dicamba. (See here.)
4. And Monsanto has been sued over dead crops from spray drift.
5. There has also been an assault over continued spray drift onto a neighboring field.

Source
Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

Farmers know how dangerous dicamba is

Highlights: 

1. Dicamba use will expand a lot in 2017.
2. Make sure to wash dicamba tanks REALLY well. Not doing so can result in crop damage and legal problems.
3. A triple rinse is advised.
4. Damage from that chemical "shows up at much lower levels" than some other herbicides, said Fred Whitford, a professor in Purdue University's pesticide program. 
5. Disposing of rinse water can be tricky as even small amounts of dicamba are dangerous. 

Source
The Progressive Farmer.

Second class action lawsuit against Monsanto for dicamba damage

2/16/2017

A new class action lawsuit against Monsanto, in US district court in Missouri, is about damage from dicamba. Even small amounts of dicamba are dangerous to crops, and can directions advise triple rinsing dicamba tanks and carefully disposing of rinse water. Even spray that drifts from one property to another can kill many crops costing the farmers a lot of money.

Monsanto's Xtend cotton and soybeans are resistant to dicamba, and so farmers spray them to control weeds. But spray drift can kill neighboring farmers' crops.

A Missouri bill wants to stop illegal dicamba use. And farmers must be careful about spraying in windy conditions.

Source
Progressive Farmer.

Tensions rise in Missouri Bootheel due to drifting GMO pollen

Malden, Missouri.Dicamba spray drift is killing crops of farmers who didn't plant dicamba-resistant GMO strains. Last year (2015) Monsanto released strains of dicamba-resistant soybeans and cotton, but the form of dicamba used on these GMO crops has not been approved by the EPA yet.

The southeast region of the state is a part of a multistate swath where damage from suspected illegal herbicide drift has slashed yields for farmers who did not plant crops resistant to the herbicide, dicamba. Fallout from the damage is pitting neighbor against neighbor and straining, or simply ruining, relationships in the area’s tight-knit farming communities.

Insurance companies do not cover losses sustained from pesticide spray drift, meaning civil suits are the only way farmers can recoup losses. Losses can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars (USD). The amount of coverage a farmer can buy is the average of crops harvested during the last 10 years. If overspray is killing their crops year after year, the insurance they can get drops, year after year.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been lost due to spray drift.

Source
STL Today.