The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to further study herbicide tolerant traits for 2,4-D and dicamba is good news for proponents of integrated weed management, says a Cornell University crop science professor.
Late last week, the USDA announced it would conduct separate environmental impact statements for crops with genetically engineered tolerance to 2,4-D and dicamba.
DowAgro, which has developed corn and soybean varieties with tolerance to both 2,4-D and glyphosate, had expected the USDA to approve its Enlist corn technology for the 2014 crop year.
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The regulatory decision means 2015 is now the best hope for commercialization of Dow’s technology, Reuters reported.
The USDA announcement will also affect the regulatory process for Monsanto’s stacked trait technology, which combines tolerance to glyphosate and dicamba.
Matthew Ryan of Cornell said the USDA made the right choice.
“I’m pleased with the decision of an environmental impact statement,” he noted. “There are alternatives (to stacked traits) out there that are being developed so I don’t think this (delay) is hurting farmers. Being a little bit more cautious is a good thing.”
In a 2012 paper in BioScience, Ryan and other U.S. weed scientists wrote that stacked herbicide resistance represents a “critical juncture” in weed management. They argued that stacked traits will increase the amount of herbicides applied in North America, offer a temporary solution to glyphosate resistant weeds and encourage growers to rely on a single tactic rather than adopt an integrated approach to weed management.
“There are (other) solutions out there. People are tank mixing, using cover crops, using other cultural practices,” Ryan said.
Neil Harker, weed ecology and crop management expert with Agriculture Canada in Lacombe, Alta., said stacked traits are a tool to fight herbicide resistant weeds. The downside is that growers might use the technology and forgo other weed management strategies, he added.
“I’m not opposed to stacked trait s… (but) we tend to find something that works really well and overuse it to the exclusion of other things that we should be trying,” Harker said. “It’s a nice system to use in the short term. But if it’s overused you run into trouble.”
Stacked trait supporters have suggested the regulatory delay will exacerbate the development and spread of glyphosate resistant weeds. Ryan isn’t buying that argument because if stacked traits were approved tomorrow, growers would continue to use high rates of glyphosate.
“If this was a product that was going to stand alone, that would not be used with glyphosate, then you might have a case to make,” he said. “By having the traits there, it facilitates more simplified management.”
The Western Producer called Crop Life Canada and the Grain Farmers of Ontario for comment, but they did not respond prior to deadline.
