When it comes to making last-minute decisions on weed control in your no-till crops this year, there are plenty of government concerns. Here’s a rundown on a few herbicide items to consider when it comes to updating the 2024 weed control program in your no-tilled fields

1. In early February, a federal district court judge in Arizona ruled that in 2020 EPA unlawfully reapproved the use of three dicamba herbicide compounds for over-the-top use on dicamba-tolerant soybeans and cotton. Since the original registration of dicamba in 2017, there have been problems with drift issues and damage to crops that can’t tolerate the chemical.

The ruling could impact potential use of Bayer’s XtendiMax, BASF’s Engenia and Syngenta’s Tavium in 2024 on as many as 50 million acres of cotton and soybeans. Numerous farm groups have asked EPA to find a way to vacate the ruling because thousands of growers have already placed dicamba and herbicide-tolerant seed.

A key question is whether the EPA will react quickly enough to reauthorize dicamba once again for over-the-top usage in the upcoming growing season. If the dicamba ban is enforced by the federal government, some university weed scientists anticipate that no-tillers will turn to using more Liberty herbicide as a replacement for dicamba.

2. In the latest report from its ongoing routine 15-year review on paraquat usage, the EPA has not found a scientific link between the application of paraquat and Parkinson’s disease in humans. The herbicide that pioneered the no-till movement back in the…