Herbicide Drift Destroying Crops in South Dakota, Farmers Say

South Dakota farmers are reporting crops devastated by herbicide drift.

The Argus Leader reports that farmers believe the herbicide to be dicamba, which is used for weed control. Three dicamba products are registered for use on dicamba-tolerant soybean plants in the state.

State Department of Agriculture official Tom Gere says more than 150 farmers have reported suspected damage from the herbicide within the first week of the department opening surveys to farmers. The department was still accepting reports Tuesday.

Gere says the department doesn’t know yet whether it would ban the Monsanto herbicides or discontinue their registrations for 2018.

Weeds field specialist Gared Shaffer says farmers have been using dicamba since the 1950s, but Monsanto started recently selling soybean varieties genetically altered to withstand dicamba.