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Bradley doesn’t mince words about dicamba at conference

A leading weed scientist at the forefront of dicamba investigation has put his foot down on volatility. At the University of Missouri Crop Management Conference today in Columbia, Missouri, Dr. Kevin Bradley opened the conference with a frank presentation on dicamba off-target damage, the biggest crop issue in Missouri and several other states this season. Bradley says yield loss is there but there is no way to show it field by field. And, he says all the causes of the injury are real, including VOLATILITY of the products. The makers of the products say volatility is not a factor. Bradley and other leading weed scientists agree with him, “I don’t have any desire for there to be this rift between us and these companies. I’ve just got to call it like I see it. That’s what I’m paid to do. Okay? So, we’re telling you the science as we see it.” Bradley showed slides of his own university’s research and that of Purdue in Indiana, the University of Nebraska and the University of Arkansas.

Bradley said there are people in the audience who deny there is volatility. Bradley says he has seen evidence of LESS volatility but less does not mean zero, “There’s people in this room, right now, that I’ve been to the field this summer and you’ve been to the field this summer and you left the field saying ‘It is not possible for our product to be volatile.’ That’s a sad day when we get to that point. How do you know it’s not volatile? Because somebody in the company, in R&D, told you – hey, it’s not volatile so you go sell it? I – that’s unacceptable to me.”

Bradley’s advice is to farmers/applicators use the products for early burn down ONLY and use extreme caution next year if they plan to apply it in June or July.

The University will hold training sessions in January and February, as required by the Missouri Department of Agriculture, for application of dicamba products next year.  Pre-registration is required.