More dates announced for required training for dicamba herbicide applicators
Friday, March 23, 2018
Additional dates in Oklahoma were announced for the U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved dicamba training.
Applicators planning to use specific dicamba herbicides labelled for the Roundup Ready Xtend Crop SystemTM for soybeans and cotton must complete the training before spraying these products this year.
Upcoming training dates include March 27 (Medford, St. Mary’s Catholic Church Hall, 6:30 p.m.; Pauls Valley, Garvin County Fairgrounds, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.), March 29 (Walters, Expo Building, 9:30 a.m.-2p.m.) and April 4 (Guymon, Hunny’s BBQ, 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m.).
To RSVP or for more information, contact the county Extension office.
The one-hour training is free of charge, although in some cases it may be offered in conjunction with a meeting or conference that has a registration fee.
“Whether you’re a certified applicator or driving the application equipment you have to be trained,” said Todd Baughman, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension summer crop weed specialist. “Even if you went through training last year, you’re still required to go through the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry approved training this year.”
Only the ODAFF, Extension and the three major manufacturers – Monsanto, DuPont and BASF – are authorized to provide the training.
In Oklahoma, Extension and ODAFF are collaborating to offer the training.
Recently introduced to Oklahoma, the Xtend Crop System for cotton and soybeans allows over-the-top application of dicamba herbicides, which traditionally had not been the case until this newest technology was developed.
With that technology, three specific herbicides – XtendiMax, Engenia and FeXapan – were developed for this use that are lower volatility than the other dicamba products currently on the market.
While regulations went into effect last year with the introduction of the technology, issues with drift in several states led the Environmental Protection Agency and manufacturers to develop new regulations for 2018.
The mandatory training will cover the new regulations, including how to work with these herbicides, which are now restricted-use products with extensive recordkeeping requirements, and best management practices for applying the herbicides.
Baughman stressed the training is important not only because it familiarizes people with the new regulations, but also because the label for the three herbicides only goes through December of this year.
“If we have any types of issues, especially to the level we had this past year, we could potentially lose the use of this technology for soybeans and cotton, which would be a major detriment, especially to producers who are dealing with resistant weeds,” Baughman said.