Introduction of dicamba-tolerant soybean and cotton to the market and the subsequent increased use of dicamba herbicide has renewed interest in off-target pesticide movement.  Over 2,700 dicamba-related injury complaints were filed with state departments of agriculture in the U.S. in 2017.  Extension scientists estimate that approximately 3.6 million acres of soybean were injured; however, complaints encompassed a variety of crops and ornamentals.  Multiple factors contributed to the off-target dicamba movement observed in 2017.  They include physical drift, spray tank contamination, temperature inversions, and volatility.  The work presented here will focus on our research efforts to study the movement of dicamba from both designed, research experiments as well as ‘real world’ occurrences of off-target movement.  This will include studies on characterization of low-level surface temperature inversions; air sampling studies designed to detect dicamba during inversion-like conditions; examples of reported field incidences; and comparisons of environment and weather conditions surrounding successful dicamba applications and applications where dicamba moved off-target.  Studying dicamba movement from different angles allows us to better understand how this specific chemical is moving but may also provide a more general understanding of pesticide movement.

Analysis of weather and environmental factors associated with off-target dicamba movement

256th National Meeting (2018)

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