The American Farm Bureau Federation has filed an Amicus or friend of the court brief in defending the EPA’s decision to allow the existing use of three dicamba products. That’s despite an earlier 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling disallowing the use of Extendimax, Fexapan, and Engenia. AFBF Vice President Scott VanderWal who’s President of the South Dakota Farm Bureau says the EPA made the right decision allowing use of those products.
He says the ruling by the 9th Circuit Court has created a lot of uncertainty for growers and the herbicide companies.
VanderWal says if the dicamba products are not allowed to be used, it could create yield losses of at least fifty percent which would be devastating for agriculture.
VanderWal says the EPA originally gave approval to use Dicamba in a good faith effort.
America’s soybean and cotton growers using dicamba have invested an estimated $4.28 billion in seed and hundreds of millions on herbicides.
