Farmers, Ag Groups File EPA Dicamba Restriction Lawsuit

While environmental groups are also setting their sites on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the legality of another herbicide, farmers and farm groups filed a lawsuit earlier this week on the restrictions mandated for dicamba use. The suit specifically addresses the downwind buffer zones EPA expanded earlier this year in an effort to prevent off-target movement, or drift, of the product. The suit alleges the expansion of buffer zones is “arbitrary and capricious,” don’t fall within existing federal herbicide and endangered species management policies, and will effectively prevent many producers from using the product, a major component of weed control programs for soybean and cotton farmers. Meanwhile, atrazine is being targeted by environmental groups for its “unreasonable adverse effects on the environment,” a stance that could lead to changes in federal product registration compliance in the future. See the latest on the dicamba and atrazine cases.