EPA approves continued use of dicamba amid controversy

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday approved the continued use of dicamba, an herbicide, a move that was praised by farm groups, but criticized by the Center for Food Safety. 

EPA said it “established the strongest protections in agency history for over-the-top (OTT) dicamba application on dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybean crops.”

EPA highlighted that it approved dicamba after lobbying from soybean and cotton growers, while the Center for Food Safety said the decision followed the appointment of a former soybean lobbyist to a high-level position at EPA. 

EPA said, “This decision responds directly to the strong advocacy of America’s cotton and soybean farmers, particularly growers across the Cotton Belt, who have been clear and consistent about the critical challenges they face without access to this tool for controlling resistant weeds in their growing crops.”

“Dicamba has already been on the market and available for sale and in wide, continuous use on farms across the United States regardless of and prior to today’s announcement, which is specifically focused on OTT application,” EPA said.

“President Trump has remained deeply committed to supporting America’s farmers and rural communities,” EPA added. “This action reflects his administration’s  commitment to ensuring farmers have the tools they need to succeed while protecting the environment with the strongest safeguards ever imposed on OTT dicamba use.

“Cotton farmers across the southern United States have been particularly vocal about why they need OTT dicamba as herbicide-resistant weeds like Palmer amaranth have become nearly impossible to control with other available tools, threatening crop yields and farm viability. These ‘super weeds’ can grow 3 inches per day and destroy entire fields. Without effective weed management during the growing season, these producers face devastating economic losses. This temporary approval reflects the voices of farmers who depend on this tool using informed restrictions and safety measures.”

EPA said it “conducted a thorough pesticide evaluation, using the best available data and reviewing hundreds of publicly available independent, peer-reviewed studies and real-world field results to conduct a comprehensive human health and ecological risk assessment.”

“To be clear, these studies involved pesticide applicators with decades of intensive exposure, not typical consumers. EPA took these studies seriously, carefully considered them in our risk assessments, and built extra protections into the registration to reduce worker contact with the product,” EPA said.

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said, “Farmers appreciate the decision by Administrator Lee Zeldin and the EPA to release a new registration and updated label for dicamba, an important herbicide that allows farmers to grow safe and healthy food and fiber. EPA’s review and approval process, based on sound science, resulted in guidance that gives us continued confidence it can be safely applied.”

“EPA’s decision provides growers much-needed clarity as they prepare for the upcoming growing season,” said Patrick Johnson, chairman of the National Cotton Council.

“We support label requirements that are workable in the field and backed by a science-based registration process.”

American Soybean Association President Scott Metzger, an Ohio farmer, said, “We appreciate EPA moving forward with a new dicamba label and recognize the importance of maintaining access to this tool for soybean farmers.”

“Farmers need clear, workable rules that accurately reflect how we farm. We look forward to reviewing the final label and hope it incorporates the feedback ASA and its state affiliates provided to ensure dicamba remains a practical option within a responsible, science-based weed management system.”

The Center for Food Safety said EPA had “reapproved products containing the dangerous, drift-prone pesticide dicamba to be sprayed on genetically engineered cotton and soybeans.”

The center noted, “The reapproval comes despite federal court decisions in 2020 and again in 2024 striking down the agency’s previous approvals of the weedkiller as unlawful.”

The center maintains that, “since its first approval in 2016, dicamba drift has damaged millions of acres of farmland and caused devastating damage to orchards, vegetable farms, home gardens, native plants, trees, and wildlife refuges across the country. Experts have found dicamba drift damage to be the worst of any herbicide in the history of U.S. agriculture. Yet the current approval provides even fewer protections from dicamba drift and damage than past approvals.”

“This approval comes months after Kyle Kunkler, a former lobbyist for the American Soybean Association, was installed as the deputy assistant administrator for pesticides in the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention,” the center said.

“Kunkler works under two former lobbyists for the American Chemistry Council, Nancy Beck and Lynn Dekleva, who are now overseen by a fourth industry lobbyist, Doug Troutman, who was recently confirmed to lead the chemicals office following endorsement by the chemical council,” the center added.

“The Trump administration’s hostility to farmers and rural America knows no bounds,” said Bill Freese, science director at Center for Food Safety. 

“Dicamba drift damage threatens farmers’ livelihoods and tears apart rural communities. And these are farmers and communities already reeling from Trump’s ICE raids on farmworkers, the trade war shutdown of soybean exports to China, and Trump’s bailout of Argentina, whose farmers are selling soybeans to the Chinese — soybeans China used to buy from American growers,” Freese said.