News

MFA adopts internal dicamba protocols

Missouri cooperative MFA Incorporated has adopted internal policies for the sale and use of dicamba herbicides for the 2018 growing season.  The company’s new policy is tied to actual soybean growth stages, said Dr. Jason Weirich, MFA director of agronomy.

“Once those soybeans reach reproductive stage, that’s when MFA will shut down spraying dicamba in the respective regions,” Weirich told Brownfield Ag News.

MFA will launch a scouting protocol next spring to track soybean growth and provide crop progress information to applicators, said Weirich.

“We’re going to have sentinel plots,” said Weirich.  “We’re going to have about 80 different fields or plots we’re going to be evaluating throughout the year to determine when our plots in those respective areas hit R1, so we know exactly when to pull the trigger on that.”

The MFA protocols could be more restrictive than Missouri Department of Agriculture requirements, according to Weirich.  MDA guidelines cut off use of Engenia, Xtendimax and FeXapan dicamba herbicides after July 15 of next year in most Missouri counties.  The cut-off is June 1 in ten Missouri Bootheel counties.

AUDIO: Jason Weirich (6 min. MP3)