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Springfield, MO
House passes bill would create steeper fines for illegal use of herbicides
After more than 40,000 acres of crops were damaged in Missouri last year by herbicides meant to battle "superweeds," lawmakers, industry representatives and even chemical companies are behind a bill that would increase fines for farmers who illegally use certain herbicides.
Farmers in recent years have seen a rise in technology for weed-killing chemicals. Monsanto, a St. Louis-based agribusiness, is known for both its high-tech herbicides and herbicide-resistant genetically engineered seeds. Roundup, one of its well-known products, was introduced in 1974, and other glyphosate-based herbicides have followed. But this class of herbicides has been overused, according to proposed legislation.
There has been a rise in weeds that have become resistant to herbicides like glyphosate. Newer classes of herbicides have been created, including ones that contain a compound called dicamba.
Those newer herbicides kill the weeds but also harm the crops. So some agribusiness companies are developing crops that are genetically modified to be resistant to those new chemicals and making it safe to spray them.
"Down home, probably 80 percent of crops will be GMO next year," said state Rep. Don Rone, R-Portageville, whose district is in southeast Missouri.
In 2015, Monsanto released genetically engineered cotton, soybean and corn seeds resistant to dicamba, according to Missouri Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Sarah Alsager.
These seeds were meant to be paired with two new formulations of dicamba-based herbicides, Xtendimax with VaporGrip Technology and Engenia Herbicide, said Kevin Bradley, an associate professor in the Division of Plant Sciences at MU.
But the dicamba-resistant seeds were released before the new herbicides were approved by the Environment Protection Agency. That meant some farmers violated federal regulations by improperly using existing versions of the herbicide, which are prone to drift and weren't labeled for use on the new resistant plants. That put nearby crops at risk.
The new herbicides were designed to help combat drift, a problem that occurs when certain herbicides aren't used properly and spread beyond the crop they are intended to treat. In high humidity, herbicide particles may not be absorbed by the plant, allowing the particles to vaporize and drift, according to MU Extension's Weed Science website.
Herbicide and pesticide drift can cause damage to nearby crops sensitive to the compounds. The new dicamba formulations are said to be less volatile and less prone to drift.
Last year, more than 40,000 acres of crops in Missouri were damaged by dicamba drift, pitting farmer against farmer in accusations of misuse of the compound. According to the Department of Agriculture, 98 pesticide drift complaints were investigated in fiscal 2017. Ninety-two of those were allegedly dicamba-related. In fiscal 2016, only 27 complaints were dicamba-related, according to the department's website.
The majority of cases of drift last year were found in southeast Missouri. Rone represents some of the districts that were investigated for dicamba misuse, and he's the sponsor of House Bill 662.
Current law says offenders can receive up to $1,000 in fines for misuse of dicamba. Rone's bill would allow the state to fine offenders up to $1,000 per acre.
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