Dicamba Delays

By Pam Smith
DTN Progressive Farmer Crops Technology Editor

MASON CITY, Ill. (DTN) -- Kirk Martin needs additional herbicide tools to combat tough-to-control weeds, but the Mason City, Ill., grower will have to wait to use the new dicamba-based trait technology from Monsanto. The company has decided to delay introduction of the technology for use in soybeans until 2016.

Dicamba-tolerant cotton remains on track for introduction in 2015. Southern growers will get the first official look at the so-called Xtend technology in Bollgard II XtendFlex, Monsanto spokesman John Combest told DTN. The company expects the new herbicide-tolerant cotton product to fully meet regulatory requirements for commercialization in time for planting next spring.

"We anticipate USDA approval [for soybean], but at this time are not sure approvals from key export customers will come in time for the 2015 planting season," said Combest. "Without the key import approvals prior to planting, we aren't going to take any risks."

Global import approvals have become an increasingly critical step for product commercialization. Over the past year, China has rejected shipments containing the genetically-engineered insect trait from Syngenta called Viptera -- causing the grain trade to clamor for more collaboration. In the past, China was not considered a key regulatory market, but now is an important customer of U.S. grain. Duracade, a new Syngenta rootworm trait, was commercialized on a limited scale in 2014 without Chinese approval. The company has since linked with Gavilon Grain to shepherd Duracade grain into domestic channels this fall.

Dow AgroScience's herbicide trait technology that allows corn and soybeans to withstand applications of a newly-formulated 2,4-D herbicide also waits in the regulatory wings. The comment period on the Enlist Weed Control System has ended, putting it slightly ahead of Xtend in clearing U.S. regulatory hurdles. Soybeans containing the Enlist trait have been approved for cultivation in Canada. However, regulatory approvals in key countries are still pending on this trait too.

Martin is participating this summer in what Monsanto calls it's Ground Breakers program that allows select growers to get an early look at the technology. He also grows seed for Monsanto. Combest said seed harvested from these experimental plots is part of a strict stewardship program.

"I had a few things to learn to use this technology," said Martin. "It isn't like spraying glyphosate. There are tank clean out, wind speed, nozzle and carrier differences.

"But it really works and I need it to clean up problem weeds such as marestail and waterhemp. It will give me another mode to switch to in soybeans," Martin added.

While farmers may grow impatient, Combest said the delays offer a silver lining. "We are going to intensify our pre-commercial activities," he said. "We are going to have more Ground Breakers for seed production, we are going to have more 'Learning Xperience' sites where growers can come out and see the product in the field and we will have more germplasm testing.

"When we were looking at the 2015 soybean launch, it was going to be less than 1% of our seed sales," Combest said. "So the fact that we are staying pre-commercial in 2015 doesn't impact a large number of growers." He added that when Roundup Ready 2 Xtend does launch, the system will include soybean varieties in Group 0-7 maturity ranges.

Doug Rushing, Industry Affairs Director at Monsanto, remembers a more streamlined time. "It took 125 days to get Roundup Ready soybeans approved in 1995," Rushing told DTN last December. Monsanto began the approval process on the dicamba soybean technology in July 2010 and July 2012 in cotton. Dow first submitted their 2,4-D trait technology to USDA in 2009.

Pam Smith can be reached at pam.smith@dtn.com

Follow Pam Smith on Twitter @PamSmithDTN

(GH/CZ)

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