Page 7 - ARUBA TODAY

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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 18 July 2017

American Living:

Weed killer turns neighbor against neighbor in farm country

bad neighbors,” said Reed The issue illustrates the strug- ficult for one company,
Storey, an Arkansas farmer gle to control agricultural Ozark Mountain Poultry, to
who says about half of his pests as they gradually mu- find non-genetically modi-
soybean crop has shown tate to render the chemi- fied soybeans to use as
damage from drifting di- cals used against them less feed for chickens because
camba. effective. And while some more farmers are relying
As the herbicide was put farmers fear damage from on seeds engineered by
into broader use, com- their neighbors’ dicamba, Monsanto to resist the her-
plaints began pouring in others are worried that their bicide. Non-modified soy-
from farmers in Arkansas fields will be defenseless beans are needed to mar-
and other states. Crops against weeds without it. ket chicken as non-GMO.
near many dicamba-treat- The drifting herbicide has Dicamba’s makers insist
ed soybean fields turned been particularly damag- the problem is not with the
up with leaves that were ing for soybeans. A group herbicide but how some
cupped and crinkled. The of farmers in Arkansas filed farmers apply it. They say
In this Tuesday, July 11, 2017, photo, East Arkansas soybean Plant Board has received a class-action lawsuit in the states should focus on
farmer Reed Storey looks at his field in Marvell, Ark. Storey said more than 630 complaints federal court against BASF other restrictions, such as
half of his soybean crop has shown damage from dicamba, an about dicamba so far this and Monsanto, which limiting spraying to daytime
herbicide that has drifted onto unprotected fields and spawned year, many more than the make dicamba. hours.
hundreds of complaints from farmers. 250 or so total complaints The chemical has hurt other “It is premature at this point
(AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo) normally received in a full crops too, including vege- to conclude that it is a fault
By ANDREW DeMILLO tected crops, especially year. Complaints have also tables and peanuts. As the of the product,” Dan West-
Associated Press soybeans, has spawned been registered in Missouri, damage piles up, dicamba berg of BASF told lawmak-
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — lawsuits and prompted Ar- Mississippi and Tennessee. has also made it more dif- ers this month.q
A longtime Arkansas soy- kansas and Missouri to im-
bean farmer, Mike Wallace pose temporary bans on
thought of his neighbors as dicamba. Losses blamed
a community and always on accidental chemical
was willing to lend a hand damage could climb into
if they faced any hardships the tens of millions of dol-
with their crops. lars, if not higher, and may
“Mike would do anything have a ripple effect on oth-
for any farmer,” his wife, er products that rely on soy-
Karen, said. “If there was beans, including chicken.
a farmer who got sick The number of complaints
in harvest time or plant- “far exceeds anything
ing time or whatever, he we’ve ever seen,” Arkan-
would say, ‘What can I do sas Plant Board Director
to help? Here’s my equip- Terry Walker recently told
ment. Here’s my guys. Let’s lawmakers. Dicamba has
go do it.’” But across much been around for decades,
of farm country, a dispute but problems arose over
over a common weed killer the past couple of years as
is turning neighbor against farmers began to use it on
neighbor. The furor sur- soybean and cotton fields
rounding the herbicide where they planted new
known as dicamba has seeds engineered to be re-
quickly become the big- sistant to the herbicide. Be-
gest controversy of its kind cause it can easily evapo-
in U.S. agriculture, and it is rate after being applied,
even suspected as a fac- the chemical sometimes
tor in Wallace’s death in settles onto neighboring
October, when he was al- fields. Some farmers ille-
legedly shot by a worker gally sprayed dicamba be-
from a nearby farm where fore federal regulators ap-
the chemical had been proved versions that were
sprayed. designed to be less volatile.
Concern about the herbi- The chemical “has made
cide drifting onto unpro- good neighbors look like