Corteva AgriScience, Wilmington, Del., recently confirmed that it is withdrawing its application for approval of a new dicamba configuration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The announcement follows Corteva’s decision in late February that it was discontinuing sales of its dicamba herbicide FeXapan® in the U.S. and Canada (GM March 12, p. 32).
Corteva’s newer dicamba configuration, which used dicamba choline salt, was supposed to exhibit low volatility and minimal drift. Crop damage from dicamba drift has resulted in thousands of farmer complaints, with dicamba manufacturer Bayer agreeing last June to pay up to $400 million to resolve the multi-district litigation involving crop damage claims for the 2015-2020 crop years (GM June 26, 2020).
Corteva’s FeXapan’s registration was canceled last June for the 2020 growing season, along with Bayer’s XtendiMax and BASF’s Engenia dicamba herbicides (GM June 5, 2020). In October EPA announced its approval of new five-year registrations for XtendiMax and Engenia, but not for FeXapan (GM Oct. 30, 2020). Corteva said in February that it will focus instead on its Enlist® weed control portfolio.