Missouri Department of Agriculture has issued and
collected first round of fines resulting from 2016 Dicamba investigations
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Agriculture announced today the first
wave of civil penalties issued to applicators, all from Dunklin County, as a
result of investigations of complaints during the 2016 growing season. Civil
penalties, ranging from $1,500 to $62,250, were issued for pesticide misuse (off
label use and drift).
“It
is important for appropriate enforcement action to be issued in order to deter
off-label use and protect the integrity of agriculture,” Director of
Agriculture Chris Chinn said. “We are in the final stages of our case review of
2016 investigations and continuing our field investigations of 2017 complaints
and will release information as cases close.”
In 2016, Department staff conducted and completed
121 complainant investigations. Those complainants named approximately 60
applicators, who were investigated as a result of complaints. In addition, the
Department investigated nearly 100 non-Dicamba related incidents.
To date, the following civil penalties have been
issued:
 All civil penalties
collected will be remitted to the school district where the violation occurred.
Federal
partners continue their investigations of six applicators who have allegedly
used Dicamba off label during the 2016 growing season, thereby impacting the
Department’s investigative process. Once the federal partners have completed
their investigations, the Department intends to finalize enforcement action
against the applicators. Those six applicators were named by 83 (of the 121)
complainants.
The
goal of Plant Industries Division’s Pesticide
Program is to prevent unreasonable adverse effects of pesticide use on
non-target crops and the environment while helping assure the availability of
pesticides needed to produce and protect crops. This is accomplished by
licensing pesticide applicators and dealers, registering pesticides and
performing inspections and investigations in the enforcement of the Missouri
Pesticide Use Act and the Missouri Pesticide Registration Act.
More
detailed information about this issue, Dicamba and the department’s role in
investigations is available at Agriculture.Mo.Gov/dicamba.
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