2018 Spring Farm

Page 20 March 22, 2018 2018 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS these products and a record of sale must be kept by pesticide dealers who sell the products 3 . If you plan to apply these products to soybeans in 2018, the Illinois Department of Agriculture will require all users of these products to adhere to all label requirements including completion of a training program that utilizes training materials developed by the registrants of the products, namely Monsanto, BASF or DuPont. At this point, training will be offered only in a classroom setting 3 . Dicamba is more environmentally friendly than some other herbacides, making it desirable. Dicamba breaks down in soil so that half of the original amount is gone in 30- 60 days. Water and microbes in soil can speed up the breakdown of dicamba 2 . But even though it is environmentally friendly, dicamba is not neighbor friendly. All across Illinois, scouting by agronomists, weed scientists and farmers revealed cupped leaves and damaged soybean plants, generally credited to dicamba injury 4 . “It’s everywhere,” says Stephanie Porter, sales agronomist with Burrus Hybrids. Dicamba drift from applications in corn were the first issues Porter spotted, but then different reports rolled in from eastern Illinois, southern Illinois and finally northern Illinois 4 . “Most of the recent calls, pictures and texts have been traced back to dicamba in soybeans,” she explains. How extensive is the problem? It’s hard to say, Porter notes, as grower applicators and co-ops face similar situations. Several farmers are talking through problems amongst themselves without filing an official claim to the Illinois Department of Agriculture 4 . A Democratic candidate for governor and part- time farmer wants Illinois to also ban the use of a controversial herbicide that’s damaged crops all over the Midwest 5 . Bob Daiber said the state should follow the lead of Arkansas and Missouri, which have approved new rules limiting the use of dicamba. The Illinois Department of Agriculture did issue new guidance on dicamba last fall, but Daiber said it doesn’t go far enough 5 . “These do not do any safeguarding against the real culprit of using dicamba, and that’s the drift,” Daiber said in an early March broadcast of WGLT’s ‘Sound Ideas.’ “As we use this on more and more acres, we are going to see more and more damage 5 .” Farmers have used dicamba for many years. Previously used on weed control in corn, it was applied much earlier in the season, before Continue 8