Investigate Midwest (https://investigatemidwest.org/tag/pesticides/)
Missouri agriculture officials are struggling to address a backlog of complaints from farmers who allege that dicamba-based herbicide drift from another farm has damaged their crops. The Missouri Department of Agriculture has about 600 pending pesticide investigations. Some of them date back to 2016, the year that Bayer-owned Monsanto began selling its dicamba-tolerant soybeans.
A new spinoff from DowDupont could mean fewer
seed and pesticide options for farmers, who are already facing mounting
challenges that include low commodity prices, poor weather conditions and a
growing trade war. On June 1, DowDuPont separated its
agricultural chemical and seed business into a standalone company called
Corteva Agriscience. Dow Chemical and Dupont Nemours, Inc. merged in 2017, and made $86 billion in sales last year. Its agriculture division provided pesticides and seeds to farmers, but the company also made paints, silicone and other chemicals in its material science and specialty products divisions. Before the merger, Dow offered more pesticide products to farmers, while Dupont sold more variety of seeds.
Farmers have been using the weed killer glyphosate – a key ingredient of the product Roundup – at soaring levels even as glyphosate has become increasingly less effective and as health concerns and lawsuits mount.
Two environmental groups filed a complaint against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday for its controversial decision to not ban a pesticide linked to neurological, developmental and autoimmune disorders.
Iowa’s organic farms, vineyards, apiaries and other non-conventional farms surrounded by row crops treated with pesticides are at risk of being hit with drifting spray that can leave their farms’ futures uncertain.
The Illinois Soybean Association is among several industries to oppose tighter regulations of pesticide protections for farm workers. The group – which represents 45,000 soybean producers in the state – filed a letter last week as part of a public comment period on proposed updates to the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard.
The Environmental Protection Agency has registered more than 16,000 pesticides. However, a large portion of those are only "conditionally registered," meaning they lack important data on health safety and environmental well-being. A report by the Government Accountability Office recently criticized the process behind registering such pesticides.