Mitiku Mamo is a Water and Cropping Systems Extension Educator serving Cedar, Dixon, Knox, and Wayne Counites
On March 29, 2022, the EPA announced that the use of Enlist One and Enlist Duo, two Corteva Agriscience herbicides used for the control of weeds in conventional and genetically modified corn, cotton, and soybean crops was expanded to an additional 134 counties for the 2022 growing season.
When the EPA, in January 2022 re-registered the two herbicides for another seven years, their use was prohibited in 217 counties throughout the country because the products were thought to jeopardize federally threatened or endangered species and their habitats in those counties. 32 of those counties are Nebraska counties, leaving farmers who have purchased these products before the January 2022 EPA decision wondering what do and others to scramble for alternatives. This use expansion will give those farmers in those counties the freedom to have these products in their arsenal of weed control options for the coming season. In addition to Nebraska, use of the two herbicides expansion includes all counties of Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.
EPA’s expanded use decision came after Corteva filed a label amendment in February asking for use of the herbicides to be permitted in an additional 128 counties addressing the American Burying Beetle in particular.
The EPA expects that the use of these products — with the existing label requirements in place to mitigate spray drift and pesticide runoff — are unlikely to jeopardize the American Burying Beetle or other listed species and their critical habitats in these counties.
The EPA affirms its commitment to working with stakeholders to use the most updated information to make regulatory decisions.
For more information on the use expansion, please go to www.epa.gov/pesticides/epa-expands-use-enlist-products-134-additional-counties-2022-growing-season.