02.16.24

Hoeven, Marshall to EPA: Appeal Arizona Court Ruling on Dicamba, Expand Existing Dicamba Stock Order

BISMARCK, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today joined Senator Roger Marshall in pressing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to appeal the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona decision to vacate certain dicamba registrations. The senators highlighted the adverse impact of the court decision, which comes at a time when farmers have already made planting decisions for the spring.

In addition to pressing the EPA to appeal the decision and seek a stay pending the appeal, the senators also requested that EPA modify its current existing stocks order so farmers, retailers and manufacturers won’t be impacted this spring.

“U.S. farmers are already coping with record input costs, crippling interest rates, and lackluster commodity prices. USDA is forecasting a major decline in 2024 farm income as well as a record agricultural trade deficit. The last thing farmers need now is to lose access to critical crop protection tools in which they have already invested thousands of dollars and on which they have based this year’s planting decisions,” the senators said in the letter.

“Crop protection tools like dicamba are vital to making no-till farming practical and efficient at a commercial level. If these tools are not available, farmers will be forced to revert to full tillage methods, which would ultimately set yields and conservation efforts back decades.”

In addition to Hoeven and Marshall, the letter is signed by Senators Jerry Moran, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Thom Tillis, Pete Ricketts, Tommy Tuberville, James Lankford, Kevin Cramer, Bill Hagerty, Katie Boyd Britt, Chuck Grassley, Ted Budd, Deb Fischer Mike Braun, Ted Cruz, Marsha Blackburn, Joni Ernst, John Thune and Todd Young.

The full letter is available here.

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