New label proposal limits dicamba to pre-emerge application

WASHINGTON — Bayer CropScience submitted an application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a new product containing dicamba herbicide that would remove an over-the-top application in soybeans.

The proposed label for KHNP0090, formerly known as XtendiMax, would allow application to dicamba-tolerant soybeans made before, during or immediately after planting prior to seedling emergence, and no later than June 12 of each year.

Because the application involves a new use pattern for dicamba, EPA is required to provide a 30-day public comment period on the registration applications consistent with Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.

EPA is also seeking comment on the associated draft labeling that was submitted by Bayer, which is available in the docket.

Regulations under effect this year banned the sale of any dicamba herbicide product after May 13 in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. The over-the-top, or OTT, application deadline is June 12.

“Bayer applied with the EPA on May 3. What we are hearing is they are going to just ask for the pre-emerge application to soybeans. That post application of dicamba will be gone,” said Kevin Johnson, Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association president, in a video on the organization’s website.

“We’ve heard that BASF and Syngenta are probably likely to do the same thing in the coming weeks, but Bayer would probably just go to a pre-emerge type product going into the future.”

“Like all opportunities for public comment associated with notices of receipt of applications, this action should not be interpreted as a registrant proposal that has been endorsed for future approval by EPA,” according to the agency.

“Should EPA determine that this or any other registrant-submitted application including over-the-top dicamba meets the standard for registration of a new use under FIFRA, EPA will provide a separate opportunity for public comment on the proposed decision at a future time.”

Background

Dicamba is registered for use at specified stages in agricultural crop fields of corn, cotton, sorghum, soybeans, sugarcane and other crops. It was first registered for OTT uses on dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybeans in 2016.

In 2017 and again in 2018, EPA amended the registrations of all OTT dicamba products following reports that growers had experienced crop damage and economic losses resulting from the off-site movement of dicamba.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the 2018 registrations in June 2020 on the basis that “EPA substantially understated risks that it acknowledged and failed entirely to acknowledge other risks.”

Days after the court’s decision, EPA issued an order for the affected products that addressed existing stocks.

In October 2020, EPA issued new registrations for two dicamba products and extended the registration of an additional dicamba product until 2025.

All three registrations included new measures that the EPA expected to prevent off-target movement and damage to non-target crops and other plants. Further state-specific amendments to the registrations occurred in 2022 and 2023.

In response to a lawsuit against EPA concerning these registrations, on Feb. 6, a ruling by the U.S. District Court of Arizona vacated the 2020 registrations for OTT dicamba products XtendiMax, Engenia from BASF and Tavium from Syngenta.

EPA issued an existing stocks order on Feb. 14, later revised on March 12, to allow for limited sale and distribution of dicamba OTT products that were already in the possession of growers or in the channels of trade and outside the control of pesticide companies.

The order also prohibits the use of these dicamba products except where the use is consistent with the previously approved labeling, which included measures intended to reduce environmental damage caused by offsite movement of the pesticide.