A Federal District Court in Arizona has vacated all “Over the Top” Dicamba registrations. These products are manufactured by Far West members Bayer, Syngenta and BASF and are used on dicamba tolerant soybeans and cotton. The decision covers all registrations nationally, not just in the Arizona circuit.
The court held that EPA had violated FIFRA rulemaking notice requirements when they approved these registrations in 2020. The EPA “has not quite figured out what our response is to the decision itself,” said Michal Freedhoff, Assistant Administrator of EPA in a speech to the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. He did say that EPA was assessing existing stocks and prioritizing questions about future product availability.
Agriculture groups around the country strongly objected to the ruling. BASF has estimated that more than 40 million acres of Dicamba tolerant soybean and cotton acres will me affected. In a statement released by the Agricultural Retailers Association, ARA Executive Director Daren Coppock strongly disagreed with the Court’s decision and urged the EPA to “continue the defense of science-based pesticide regulation in the federal courts by appealing the decision and requesting a stay of the decision during the appeal.”
