Un anuncio HISTÓRICO rompió la angustia y la trágica noticia de las últimas dos semanas y nos dio a todos un poco de esperanza, al menos del lado de nuestro suministro de alimentos.

Un panel de tres jueces anuló la decisión de la EPA de otorgar el uso del herbicida Dicamba en cultivos agrícolas.

Este herbicida que ha estado reemplazando cada vez más al glifosato en la agricultura y ha causado millones de dólares en daños a los cultivos. 

Image of Dicamba claims of crop damage as of 2017. More info on Dicamba here.

The court's decision was that, “The EPA made multiple errors in granting the conditional registrations.”

According to the Guardian, the court found that the EPA “refused to estimate the amount of dicamba damage”, failed to acknowledge that restrictions it placed on the use of the dicamba herbicides would not be followed, and did not acknowledge evidence that the new use of dicamba herbicides would “tear the social fabric of farming communities”. 

"La decisión de hoy es una gran victoria para los agricultores y el medio ambiente", dijo George Kimbrell del Centro para la Seguridad Alimentaria, abogado principal en el caso. “Es bueno recordar que corporaciones como Monsanto y la administración Trump no pueden escapar del estado de derecho, particularmente en un momento de crisis como este. Ha llegado el día del juicio final ".

The below summary of the situation is from Charles Benbrook, PhD. of Hygeia Analytics

Last Wednesday the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the EPA conditional registrations for dicamba-based herbicides applied to GE, herbicide-resistant soybeans and cotton. This action will have major ag, environmental, and public health impacts -- about two-thirds of the soybeans and three-quarters of the cotton planted by US farmers in 2020 were dicamba-resistant.

The Appeals Court order will likely stop any further, legal dicamba use on these crops, and as a direct result, will almost certainly increase illegal, off-label applications through the next month or so. The implications of this court order will unfold rapidly.

In addition to a sizable financial hit on Bayer and farmers who have stocked up on dicamba herbicides, this will directly and immediately expand demand and use of Corteva’s DuoEnlist soybeans and cotton engineered to resist 2,4-D, glyphosate, glufosinate, and the FOP herbicides. 

XtendiMax and DuoEnlist seeds deliver comparable benefits to farmers. And this means use of 2,4-D will rise rapidly and bypass glyphosate as the most widely used herbicide certainly in the Midwest, and maybe nationwide, within just 2 to 3 years.

There are many issues wrapped up in the regulatory demise of XtendiMax technology that will play out as Trump’s first term comes to an end. If a new Administration takes over next January,  big changes in herbicide regulatory approvals will no doubt be high on the agenda of the new EPA.

Here is a powerful piece posted on Hygeia Analytics two days before the Appeals Court ruling with one, truly memorable line re what XtendiMax technology has done -- “making liars of proponents and fools of enablers.”

And for a deep dive into the checkered history of XtendiMax, see the Dicamba Diary and Dicamba Watch on the Heartland Study website.

Charles Benbrook
Heartland Study Project Coordinator
https://hygeia-analytics.com/