Dicamba drift has been an important issue for all farmers across the country. Grant Strom, President of the Knox County Farm Bureau, has used dicamba, and believes it can be beneficial. However, mixed opinions on the issue forced Strom to publish a recent article on Farmweeknow.com, titled “The Real Issue in Dicamba Debate.”
“I had a lot of emotion about it. I wanted to put it on paper because I feel like there are other people that felt the way I did, but those were the silent majority I guess. I felt that people needed reminded that we’re all in this together, and we need to try to find a solution to this issue that we’re facing together,” Strom said.
The amount of backlash from farmers who have had crops affected by dicamba damage and off-target issues is significant, but Strom hopes farmers can handle disputes locally, so that the farming community can avoid government regulations and fines.
As a fan of dicamba and it’s benefits, Strom doesn’t want to see this issue become even more controversial, as he believes it will affect how technology and new products are approved moving forward.
“It makes me concerned about getting future approvals,” Strom stated. “Right now, there’s only a two-year approval on the label of these new products, so unless something happens right now, we’re only approved for the 2017 and 2018 crop year use on these new dicamba formulations.”
New technology is essential to today’s agricultural landscape. Strom just hopes that farmers will keep an open mind, and issues like this can unite the agronomy community, instead of pull people apart.
“Obviously, the weeds we’re battling now are just going to continue to evolve, and there’s going to have to be new technologies and methods to battle some of the things we’re having to deal with in these fields. So I have lots of concern about how that’s going to be moving forward,” he said.
To view Grant’s article, click on the link here: http://farmweeknow.com/blogs-real-issue-dicamba-debate-18063
To hear Grant’s interview on the AM 1330 WRAM Morning Show, click here: http://podcast.prairiecommunications.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/grantstrom8-28.mp3
written by Jackson Kane
