Dicamba is a herbicide that was twice banned by the courts, but now Trump’s EPA wants to put it back on the list of chemicals allowed for agricultural use. If the agency is successful at reregistering the weedkiller, then it would be allowed on soybean and cotton fields.
Pesticides being sprayed on a soybean field in Iowa. | Credit: Eric Hawbaker, Blue Collar Ag, Riceville, IA/USGS
In 2020, environmental organizations sued the EPA to stop allowing the use of dicamba because, when it’s applied, it can drift and harm neighboring farms, communities, and ecosystems. A federal appeals court found against the EPA, ruling that it had understated the amount of damage from the herbicide and that its use would tear at the social fabric of farming communities. Then, the agency tried again to register dicamba, but another court prohibited its sale.
Now, the EPA plans to require practices that it says will minimize the impact on certain species and the environment, according to its website. The action was praised by the American Soybean Association, according to the Washington Post. A spokesperson for the Center for Food Safety said in a statement that allowing the chemical will decimate not only farmers and residents of rural America but also natural areas like wildlife refuges.
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