Officials with the South Dakota Department of Agriculture have approved the use of three different dicamba products for the 2018 growing season.
Engenia, Xtendimax with Vapor Grip technology, and Fexapan herbicides are now registered through December 20th of next year.
The State will enforce guidelines within the federal Environmental Protection Agency's 2018 label. J.D. Farley is an ag program specialist with the Department of Agriculture. He says the EPA has added several restrictions to this year's label. One of them relates to wind speed.
"It used to be 15 miles per hour, you couldn't spray over, now it's ten miles per hour. You can only spray from sunrise to sunset, you used to be able to have a buffer when you were spraying, that buffer, I believe is no longer able to be used anymore - basically, if the wind's blowing toward a susceptible crop like other beans - you wouldn't be able to spray the product. You do have to attend a training before you can actually apply the product," Farley says.
Farley says training sessions will take place early next year. He says farmers cannot use dicamba after soybean plants have reached beginning bloom stage.
Farley says state ag officials decided not to add more regulations on top of the EPA label. Other states have decided to do so.
North Dakota producers cannot use dicamba if the National Weather Service forecasts a high above 85 degrees or if field temperatures rise above that number.
Lawmakers in Arkansas have put on hold a plan that would ban dicamba use from April 16th to Halloween.