Enlist Herbicide County Restrictions

By Dusty Sonnenberg, CCA, Ohio Field Leader, a project of the Ohio Soybean Council and soybean check-off.

On January 11^th, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completed the registration amendment process for Enlist One ® and Enlist Duo ® herbicides. These Enlist herbicides received a seven-year registration through January 11^th, 2029. The Enlist weed control system offers multiple herbicide modes of action to control several resistant weeds and is centered around 2,4-D choline with Colex-D® technology. Enlist E3 soybeans are tolerant to three herbicide modes of action, which include: 2,4-D, glufosinate, and glyphosate.

On the new label, the EPA banned the use of Enlist one and Enlist Duo in multiple counties across the country including 12 counties in Ohio. Those counties in Ohio include Athens, Butler, Fairfield, Guernsey, Hamilton, Hocking, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Vinton, and Washington. The noted reason for the county ban was due to the EPA’s newly rigorous analysis of risks to endangered species as a part of the Endangered Species Act.

The label restrictions seemed to catch everyone by surprise. “The EPA has several groups watching them to be sure they are doing their job to regarding the evaluation of products and the Endangered Species Act,” said Mark Loux, OSU Extension Weed Scientist. “This county restriction on the label seemed to come as a surprise to Corteva and the other seed companies, the ODA, and the Universities. This seems most unfair to those farmers who already purchased Enlist seed. Enlist is a great platform that does not have the same issues as some of the other herbicides out there.”

Farmers do still have weed control options with the Enlist seed. “The Enlist seed technology has benefits that still exist. In this situation the Enlist bean has glyphosate, glufosinate, and 2,4-D resistance, so the fall back for a farmer that has a glyphosate resistant weed problem is they can still apply Liberty ®,” said Loux. “In a post situation, if you are not going to use glufosinate (Liberty) then you basically have a Round-up® bean, and you are back to a product like FlexStar or Cobra for ragweed, or the same with Water hemp. In the burndown you can still use 2,4-D. This does not affect the use of 2,4-D and glyphosate in the burndown like the previous label that allowed it seven days prior to planting. What is more critical is the post option decision if you need glufosinate (Liberty®) and if there are product availability issues at that time.”