Payne issues Dicamba reminders

BLOOMINGTON – The president of the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association is reminding farmers of new Dicamba guidelines for 2019.

There is now a June 30 cutoff date for the herbicide which cannot be sprayed if there is a residential area immediately adjacent to the field or neighboring and it is down wind on the day you want to spray. The crop also cannot be sprayed if there is a sensitive soybean crop down wind.

“The cutoff date is just meant to bring closure to a season,” Jean Payne explains. “That herbicide performs better the earlier you can apply it on soybeans so I think we really want to promote early application and use of residual herbicides.”

Online training and information is available at www.ifca.com. This can serve as a good refresher heading into the season.

“This is a pesticide that we really have to try and get right to bring those numbers of complaints down so the Department of Agriculture feels better about it,” Payne said.

This has been a very hectic spring season for those in the ag retail industry since little work was done last fall with both fertilizer and chemical applications.

“I know everybody wants everything to get done as fast as possible but in years when we have had poor fall fertilizer seasons, we have seen more accidents in the spring the following year,” Payne added.

IFCA continues to keep a close eye on thousands of pieces of legislation at the state capital through a full-time lobbyist. Payne says they are the face of the chemical and fertilizer industry so they want to be able to answer questions about things like pesticide use and water quality.

“As patient as we can be with each other would be the good advice I would give,” Payne concluded.