WOOSTER, Ohio—Dicamba-related drift is causing significant stress for educators, agricultural regulators, and soybean farmers this year. For many specialty crop growers, though, this is familiar ground as their crops are especially sensitive to drift.
Since 2016, soybean farmers have quickly adopted dicamba- and 2,4-D-ready crops in their fight against herbicide-resistant weeds. However, the expanded use of these herbicides during the growing season has led to an increased threat of drift damage for specialty crop growers.
High-value crops such as grapes, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes can be damaged by concentrations of 1/300th the labeled rate or lower. While recent legal issues have limited the use of three dicamba products for this growing season, both dicamba and 2,4-D will...
