Facing EPA skepticism and a slew of suits targeting Xtend cropping system, Corteva ends development of their dicamba-choline weedkiller

[Corteva Agriscience] opted to end the EPA registration process underway for a novel dicamba herbicide containing a dicamba choline salt — a different form of dicamba salt from any past or currently marketed dicamba herbicides.

“Corteva Agriscience has made a business decision to withdraw its developmental dicamba product from EPA consideration for registration,” company Media Relations Manager Kacey Birchmier told DTN in an email. “The EPA registration process has not yet been completed for this submission.”

The dicamba-choline product was an attempt to create a less-volatile formulation of dicamba, which continues to be implicated in widespread reports of off-target injury that have resulted in three EPA label revisions and many lawsuits against dicamba manufacturers Bayer and BASF. Corteva was moving ahead with the product’s development last year, which included submitting it to EPA for registration — a process the company has now voluntarily ended, Birchmier said. This appears to be the end of the road for the dicamba choline herbicide, without a clear buyer on the horizon.

This marks the second move by the company to distance itself from the dicamba-tolerant Xtend cropping system. In February, Corteva announced it would be voluntarily discontinuing its sales of FeXapan, another dicamba herbicide based on Bayer’s XtendiMax product, but marketed by Corteva.

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