Micheal Clements, NAFB News Service

The Environmental Protection Agency late Tuesday announced five-year registrations for two dicamba products and the extension of a third. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler says the registrations include new control measures to ensure the products can be used effectively while protecting the environment, including non-target plants and other crops not tolerant to dicamba. Bayer’s ExtendiMax and BASF’s Engenia received five-year registrations, while Syngenta’s Tavium registration was extended. Corteva’s FeXapan was not included in the announcement. A federal court in June tossed out the registrations for ExtendiMax, Engenia and FeXapan, but did not include Tavium. The registrations feature new control measures, including requiring a volatility reduction agent and specific downwind buffers. The federal regulation prohibits over the top application of dicamba on soybeans after June 30 and cotton after July 30. Farm groups have called on the EPA to reregister the products for 2021. However, a staffer at the Center for Food Safety via Twitter called the action “rushed before the election, as a political prop.” American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall and National Cotton Council Chairman Kent Fountain joined Wheeler for the announcement in Georgia.