Health Canada will not be further regulating the use of dicamba herbicide sprayed on growing crops, as has happened in the U.S.
The government agency that regulates pesticides issued a statement to Glacier FarmMedia reiterating its support for the current Canadian labels.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week increased restrictions on the use of dicamba sprayed over growing crops, after the first season of use of dicamba-resistant soybeans turned up about three million U.S. acres with crop damage.
There appeared to be a much lower level of damage in Canada, where there was a campaign to encourage farmers to only use the system with pre-plant and pre-emergent timing and where there are fewer herbicide-resistant weed challenges.
The dicamba-resistant system, called Xtend, is licensed and used by Monsanto.
For its part, Monsanto Canada said in an email its Canadian growers’ experience with the Xtend system in 2017 was “overwhelmingly positive,” with “very few” calls from growers, applicators and/or retailers about off-site herbicide movement.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Dicamba label sufficient, Health Canada says
