Buffer requirements for dicamba applications are both larger and more complex this year, a reminder to farmers as they start the season. When EPA released its new five-year registrations for several dicamba products it expanded the downwind buffer requirements and added buffers for counties with endangered species. This will impact counties in southeast North Dakota, western Minnesota and northeast South Dakota. SDSU Extension Weed Science Coordinator Paul Johnson says weed control in those areas will need extra attention.

He says in some cases the additional buffer zones for dicamba product use will be an insurmountable challenge.

Johnson advises producers in the affected counties to look at another soybean trait option so they can get effective weed control and still be compliant with the restrictions.

Last summer farmers using dicamba tolerant soybeans were also handed a blow when a federal court ruling stopped them from spraying dicamba on their soybeans. Johnson is confident that won’t be a problem again this year.