Dicamba hearing set online May 3

An online public hearing has been set for 9:30 a.m. May 3 on the state Plant Board’s tentative decision to allow the expanded use of dicamba this summer. The hearing will be on the Zoom online platform.

The board voted 8-7 on March 3 to recommend a June 30 cutoff for farmers’ use of dicamba on soybeans and July 30 on cotton. That vote reversed the board’s decision just three months earlier to set a May 25 cutoff.

The latest proposal mirrors regulations set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The proposed regulation also removes buffer protections for specialty crops and research plots operated by the University of Arkansas System’s Division of Agriculture.

Anyone wishing to comment during the online public hearing is required to register by 4:30 p.m. April 29. A separate 30-day period for written comment from the public expires on Thursday. The link for both is at shorturl.at/bxBQ6.

The public hearing can be accessed at shorturl.at/pzBF5 using the passcode 092153.

Because of the level of public interest, the board has rented the ballroom of a Little Rock hotel for three previous public hearings on proposed dicamba regulations. The hearing this year was moved online because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Changes made by the board at the public hearing also must be approved by the governor and legislators, then registered with the secretary of state’s office before they can take effect.