Department of Ag investigating 115 herbicide complaints in Southeast Missouri

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

SIKESTON -- The state Department of Agriculture is investigating over 100 herbicide complaints in Southeast Missouri.

"We are investigating about 115 complaints that we received from the Bootheel related to an incident in four counties," said Sarah Alsager, public information officer for the Missouri Department of Agriculture in Jefferson City.

Since June 22 the Missouri Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Pesticide Control has received 115 pesticide/herbicide drift complaints believed to be related to herbicide use incidents four Southeast Missouri counties; however, she couldn't confirm the four counties.

"Right now our Bureau of Pesticide Control staff are working through those complaints and doing a thorough investigation," Alsager said.

Typically, the Bureau receives 75 to 80 complaints statewide in a year, she said.

The complaints the Department received were from producers.

"The investigation is going on, and there's nothing else to share until the investigations are complete," Alsager said.

While an estimated date of completion for the investigations is unknown, Alsager said seven of the Bureau's eight investigators are working the case.

"It's definitely a top priority," she said.

Alsager said 37,000 acres were affected,and those crops included soybeans, watermelon and tomatoes.

In May, the Missouri Department of Agriculture Plant Industries Division's Pesticide Program issued a news release reminding producers to explicitly follow all directions for use, restrictions and special precautions found on all pesticide labels.

Although Alsager said the Department of Agriculture could not confirm which herbicide the complaints listed, others in the agriculture field speculate the complaints have to do with the herbicide, dicamba.

According to the Department of Agriculture, dicamba is a useful chemistry registered for use in burn-down and preplant applications by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the control of many broadleaf weeds in the production of cotton and soybean crops.

Alsager noted penalties for violations can range from a warning letter to a fine of more than $1,000, and that fine would be based on the type and number of violations.

State Rep. Don Rone of Portageville Rone said the incidents are widespread misuse of the illegal herbicide dicamba on a new strain of genetically modified Monsanto Co. cotton and soybeans. Similar repots are now surfacing in other nearby states such as Arkansas and Tennessee.

"Monsanto has developed GMO genes in cotton and soybeans for dicamba. That means you can spray this product over the top for pigweed control. Year before last, they (Monsanto) got the label to sell seeds but they did not get the label to use the herbicide," said Rone, who serves as the vice chair of the Missouri House Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources.

Apparently, many farmers expected the EPA to approve dicamba this year and planted the Monsanto seeds anyway. That approval never came, and growers applied the dicamba herbicide illegally.

"As time progressed and they planted the dicamba cotton and soybeans, some farmers illegally applied dicamba on to these crops. It's an illegal application," Rone said.

While the Department of Agriculture has yet speak on dollar amounts, Rone said the damage is severe, affecting watermelons, cantaloupes, tomatoes and recently planted peanut crops in New Madrid, Pemiscot, Dunklin and Stoddard counties.

"It (the damage) is worse across the ridge (Crowley's Ridge) in Dunklin and Stoddard counties. There is more cotton over here," Rone said.

Rone is calling for legislation to increase the penalties for drift violators from $1,000 to $10,000.

A free, fact-finding forum on the herbicide dicamba and Southeastern Missouri crops will be from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Friday at the Rone Hall of the Missouri University Fisher Delta Research Center in Portageville.

The Daily American Republic contributed to this report.

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