July 10, 2017
The Missouri Farm Bureau President, Blake Hurst, joined us today to discuss the recent ban on all products that contain Dicamba in his state as well as Arkansas.
We asked him to give us some updates on the situation.
Hurst said, “Our Director of Agriculture, Chris Chinn, has the authority to stop the use and sale of any product that is causing harm tto any agriculture product, and she has done that. She did that late Friday afternoon, for Dicamba. She has made it clear that it is a temporary ban, and she is hoping for some changes in the regulation of the labels that are around Dicamba that will make it possible to reinstate its use.”
We then asked what he sees for this temporary pause in the use of Dicamba.
He replied, “It is temporary if they come to agreement that will allow the use to go forward. There is so much that we don’t know about why we are seeing this widespread of damage. So much we don’t know about what we can do to stop it. Hopefully, I would assume, that meetings are going on as we speak between the companies marketing the various Dicamba products and that they will come to some conclusions. But it will stay in place until we find a way forward that is safe for everybody.”
It was discussed that this ban is targeted towards keeping the environment safe while assisting farmers with weed control.
“It is a real challenge. I have heard from more than a few farmers, particularly down south, who have wheat, beans following wheat – this week they had planned on spraying. They have tremendous pressure from resistant pigweeds, and they are in a mess. And I understand that, but I also understand the pain felt by farmers using other technology that see their bean crops being damaged,” explained Hurst.
Watch the video above to get Hurst’s complete take on the situation.
For more information about this ban, visit mofb.org.