Illegal spraying seems to be the cause of a majority of crop damage earlier this year from dicamba-based herbicides.
Given that BASF sold enough dicamba herbicide to cover roughly 52 percent of the dicamba-tolerant acres planted in Arkansas, Bloomberg speculates that a large quantity of off-label dicamba could have been used to fill the gap. Such versions of the herbicide can be highly volatile, meaning the chemical vaporizes and can easily move to neighboring fields.
However, investigations continue as experts seek to find the specific causes of each complaint of spray drift.
Arkansas’ State Plant Board received almost a thousand complaints alone this year. A number of complaints prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to place to regulations for dicamba herbicides, including making the ingredient a restricted-use product.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.