A new dicamba lawsuit is likely around the corner

Less than two months ago, the Environmental Protection Agency announced its intent to unconditionally register three new dicamba-based pesticides for over-the-top usage on soybean and cotton crops.

To say EPA has a checkered history in trying to get dicamba registered is an understatement. The federal courts have twice revoked EPA approval of dicamba. In 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9^th Circuit found EPA conducted shoddy analysis that understated some risks and failed completely to acknowledge others:

“…the EPA refused to estimate the amount of dicamba damage, characterizing such damage as ‘potential’ and ‘alleged,’ when record evidence showed that dicamba had caused substantial and undisputed damage.”

The ruling sent EPA back to the drawing board to make additional application restrictions to dicamba labels to prevent drift damage. But in the government’s effort to speed up the registration process, the U.S. District Court of Arizona in Tucson found EPA cut corners, including violating public input requirements required by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act:

“In this case, the EPA violated the statutory mandate in FIFRA for notice and comment for ‘new use’ registrations and failed to determine no additional data was necessary before issuing the 2020 unconditional registrations for OTT dicamba… The seriousness of this error is compounded by the finding in NFFC that the original registrations issued for OTT dicamba in 2016, amended in 2018, failed to consider risks to certain stakeholders, including those not using OTT dicamba.”

If you’ve come to the conclusion that EPA willingly ignores laws when it comes to dicamba, you’re not alone.

Now Big Ag corporations Syngenta, BASF and Bayer want to sell new dicamba products next growing season and have petitioned EPA for registrations.

It is EPA’s intent to unconditionally approve dicamba, along with a bevy of new restrictions to mitigate drift in over-the-top application.

To bolster its case, EPA has published three publications considering potential risks to the public and environment — a Draft Ecological Risk Assessment and Biological Evaluation, Human-Health Risk Assessment, and Benefits Assessment

In summation, EPA claims dicamba is oh so safe:

“Considering the assessed risk to human health and the environment, and the associated economic, social, and environmental costs, and the benefits, consistent with the requirements of FIFRA section 3(c)(5), EPA proposes that dicamba use in DT cotton and DT soybean meets the regulatory standard under FIFRA and proposes to conclude that registering the proposed products would not cause unreasonable social or economic impacts or adverse effects on human health or the environment. The Agency proposes that the benefits of having a broad spectrum, non-selective foliar-applied herbicide for control of broadleaf weeds as a rotational tool, partnered with the mitigation measures for any risks, outweigh any potential risks of concern.”

By the way, conditional product label registrations typically are issued for just a few growing seasons to allow for tweaking, while an unconditional label is good for 15 years unless it’s vacated by court ruling.

Fifteen years? For dicamba? From the gang that ain’t shooting straight?

Here’s what is going to happen should the EPA go through with its dicamba registration plan this fall: Environmental advocates a whole lot smarter than I will go through EPA’s registration process with a fine tooth comb and, given the agency’s woeful track record, are likely to find discrepancies with FIFRA requirements. Lawsuits are sure to follow, perhaps with an expedited courtroom schedule given farmers will be trying to make crop planting decisions for 2026.

It’s the same plot that played itself out in the 2024 growing season.

The truth is there is little Big Ag, farmers or the courts can do to fully prevent dicamba from drifting where it’s not welcome. And as long as that is true, dicamba usage will be contentious in a never-ending rinse and repeat cycle.