Specialty crop sensitivity to dicamba
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Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) and potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) are important specialty crops, accounting for 4% of the total agricultural crops sales in 2019 (USDA-NASS). Production continues to grow, as the sales these three crops generated increased from 30% of all specialty crop sales in 2012 to 47% in 2019 (USDA-NASS). During this time, dicamba (2-methoxy-3,6-dichlorobenzoic acid) tolerant soybeans (Glycine max) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) were first introduced (2017) and approximately 1.45 million hectares of soybean were injured by the off-target movement of dicamba across the United States (Bradley, 2017). Buffer distances have been implemented to protect sensitive soybeans and current regulations mandate a downwind buffer distance of 73 meters between the last treated row of a field and the nearest downwind field edge (USEPA). This distance was adjusted in 2021 after the previous buffer distance of 37 m proved insufficient. While the new buffer distance has been deemed adequate for sensitive soybean, it is not known whether this buffer distance is sufficient to effectively protect sensitive specialty crops from dicamba for damage, yield loss and fruit contamination. The parameters of these experiments were developed prior to the 2021 buffer distance amendment.
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M.S.