The Missouri Department of Agriculture and the University of Missouri College of Agriculture will hold their last in-person dicamba application training session this week.
Before the start of the growing season, farmers with the intent of purchasing and using synthetic auxin herbicides are required to have a private or commercial applicator license, and training to prevent off-target movement.
Dicamba, an active ingredient in several herbicides produced by Monsanto, has some farmers frustrated by its volatility after the 2017 crop season. While many farmers' fields have benefited from the use of dicamba, it comes at a cost to neighboring fields that have been damaged by it drifting onto planted crops that aren’t equipped to handle it.
In 2017, before July 7, the Missouri Department of Agriculture received 206 dicamba-related pesticide drift complaints and crop damage. To reduce off-target crop injury, they issued a stop sale, use, and removal order of dicamba technologies on July 7, and approved of special provisions for their use on July 13.
Regional Agronomy Specialist for the University of Missouri Extension, Anthony Ohmes says applicators need to be sure to get the correct Special Local Need product labels that were issued last year.
“There are three labeled products. Those three products- ENGENIA, XTENDIMAX and FEXAPAN- they have a 24c labeling in the state of Missouri,” said Ohmes. “They need to be sure to get those 24c labels.”
The cutoff date for the use of these products is set for June 1 for the southeast Missouri counties of Dunklin, Pemiscot, New Madrid, Stoddard, Scott, Mississippi, Butler, Ripley, Bollinger, and Cape Girardeau. All remaining Missouri counties have a cutoff date of July 15.
Provisions established by the Department of Agriculture throughout last year are still in effect. Applicators must fill out a daily dicamba notification application form before each application. This form can be found at Agriculture.Mo.Gov/dicamba/notice. The 24c labeled products cannot be applied before or after the application window, which is set between 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m daily.
Uncertified applicators are prohibited from applying 24c labels to crops at any time.
The training session will take place at Fisher Delta Research Center in Portageville on Feb. 28. Ohmes says you can also take University of Missouri Extension online training modules at any time, at your own pace.
To register for an in-person or online training session, visit https://extension2.missouri.edu/events/synthetic-auxin-herbicide-applicator-training.
Synthetic Auxin Herbicide Applicator Training:
Feb. 28, 2018
Fisher Delta Research Center, Rone Hall
County Road 308, Portageville, Missouri
9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m., registration begins at 8:30 in the lobby