The advent of dicamba tolerant soybeans has been one of the most newsworthy and controversial subjects in the grain production areas of Kentucky over the last year. The four river counties of Ballard, Carlisle, Hickman and Fulton have been at the forefront of battling herbicide resistant weeds because of our location on the river and yearly flooding, therefore dicamba technology will be very important for our producers going forward. Unfortunately, our local news media did several stories last summer focusing on the negative aspects of the technology and possible damages of misapplications and drift with almost no mention of the positive aspects of the technology and the need for it in our area.

After viewing those newscasts, Tom Miller, Ballard County Agent for Ag and Natural Resources was determined to get both sides of the story to the public. One of first opportunities was for the Four River Women in Ag Conference at Columbus Belmont State Park in November of 2017. Working with new Extension Weed Specialist Travis Legleiter from Princeton  a presentation was developed that showed the history of dicamba and its use for the last 50 years.  The need for the product based on the amount of herbicide resistant pigweeds and other weeds in local soybean production was established. Finally, the danger of offsite movement to other crops and home landscapes was presented along with examples of the extensive training that applicators must go through in order to apply the products.

Eighty four women participants that have some kind of connection to agriculture, whether a farmer’s wife, a landowner or associated with some kind of business or service impacted by agriculture attended the conference. Survey’s at the conclusion of the conference showed 95% of the participants left with a better understanding of the new technology and felt much safer with it being used on their operation.  Newspaper articles and newsletter articles have been used to try and get both the positive and negative sides of the technology out for the education of the general public.