BASF and Corteva Agriscience have filed motions to intervene in the June 3 decision made by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to vacate three dicamba herbicides for dicamba-tolerant soybeans and cotton. The case vacated registrations for XtendiMax (Bayer), Engenia (BASF), and FeXapan (Corteva).
The Court said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed to acknowledge the risks—such as off-target dicamba damage—in its two-year 2018 conditional registration that covered the 2019 application season and was to cover the 2020 season.
In response, the EPA issued a cancellation order that stopped distribution or sale of these three dicamba products on June 8.
Farmers and commercial operators may use existing stocks of XtendiMax, Engenia, and FeXapan that were in their possession as of June 3, 2020, which was the date of the court decision. Use must be consistent with the products’ previously approved labels and may not continue after July 31, 2020.
BASF officials say BASF made the decision to intervene after considering the financial impact vacating the registration has had on farmers at a time when farmers have less than a month to protect millions of acres threatened by herbicide-resistant weeds.
Seeking to make matters worse, the challengers have now asked the Ninth Circuit to undo the EPA’s order which implemented the panel’s decision and addressed the uncertainty it caused, say BASF officials.
