USDA Deregulates Dow AgroSciences’ Enlist™ Cotton Trait

Growers across the South are eager to use new system to control weeds

Thursday, July 23, 2015 2:20 pm EDT
Dateline: Indianapolis
 The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today issued its decision deregulating Dow AgroSciences’ Enlist cotton trait in the United States. The USDA has now completed its regulatory review process for all Enlist traits — corn, soybeans and cotton.

Enlist cotton, one component of the innovative Enlist Weed Control System, provides tolerance to Enlist Duo herbicide — a proprietary blend of new 2,4-D choline and glyphosate — as well as full tolerance to glufosinate. With three tolerances, Enlist cotton offers more weed control options in one convenient system.

Once registered by the U.S. EPA for use on Enlist cotton, growers will be able to apply Enlist Duo herbicide on Enlist cotton from burndown up to mid-bloom. Dow AgroSciences developed Enlist Duo with growers in mind. The herbicide features Colex-D Technology, which will provide near-zero volatility, minimized potential for physical drift, lower odor and better handling characteristics.

“The deregulation of Enlist cotton marks a tremendous milestone for the cotton industry,” says John Chase, Enlist commercial leader, Dow AgroSciences. “In the South, growers are all too familiar with the challenges created by resistant weeds. Enlist cotton will open the door to other options for in-season weed control with multiple modes of action.”

Growers share on-farm experience with Enlist cotton
This summer, growers throughout cotton-growing regions are participating in Enlist grower research plots, raising PhytoGen®cottonseed with the Enlist trait on their farms.

As part of their research plot experience, participating growers applied Enlist Duo herbicide to Enlist cotton in-crop. The growers are now sharing firsthand knowledge of the system’s benefits and advantages, including reduced off-target movement and excellent weed control.

“Enlist Duo does not have the volatility that we’re used to seeing with old 2,4-D compounds,” says Mike Griffin, Virginia grower and research plot participant. “Volatility is beyond my control as an operator and for a company to have basically formulated a compound where volatility is not something I have to worry about, that’s probably my single most exciting factor about this.”

Grower research plot participant Trey Koger, Ph.D., farms in Belzoni, Mississippi, and has seen how Enlist Duo helps control glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth.

“We deal with glyphosate-resistant weeds and primarily glyphosate-resistant palmer pigweed in this geography,” Koger says.  “We fight that weed species in every one of our crops. There are a lot of benefits I see out of this technology in addition to the ability to control glyphosate-resistant Palmer pigweed.”

While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved Enlist Duo for use with Enlist corn and soybeans, the EPA is currently reviewing the use with Enlist cotton and registration for this use is pending.

Pending regulatory approvals, Dow AgroSciences expects to launch Enlist cotton in proven, consistent, high-yielding PhytoGen cottonseed in 2016.

For more information and to learn more about growers’ experiences with the Enlist system, visit Enlist.com, the Enlist YouTube channel or @EnlistOnline on Twitter.
About Dow AgroSciences

Dow AgroSciences discovers, develops, and brings to market crop protection and plant biotechnology solutions for the growing world. Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, Dow AgroSciences is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company and had annual global sales of $7.3 billion in 2014. Learn more at www.dowagro.com. Follow Dow AgroSciences on Facebook,Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+, or subscribe to our News Release RSS Feed.

®™DOW Diamond, Colex-D, Enlist and Enlist Duo are trademarks of The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) or an affiliated company of Dow. ®PhytoGen is a trademark of PhytoGen Seed Company, LLC. PhytoGen Seed Company is a joint venture between Mycogen Corporation, an affiliate of Dow AgroSciences LLC, and the J.G. Boswell Company. The Enlist Weed Control System is owned and developed by Dow AgroSciences LLC. Enlist Duo herbicide is not registered for sale or use in all states. Contact your state pesticide regulatory agency to determine if a product is registered for sale or use in your state. Always read and follow label directions. ©2015 Dow AgroSciences LLC

 

Virginia grower Mike Griffin says the Enlist system exceeds his expectations for crop tolerance and weed control.

Enlist Duo herbicide with Colex-D Technology is applied to PhytoGen cotton with the Enlist trait as part of grower research plots this summer.

 

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Virginia grower Mike Griffin says the Enlist system exceeds his expectations for crop tolerance and weed control.
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Enlist Duo herbicide with Colex-D Technology is applied to PhytoGen cotton with the Enlist trait as part of grower research plot

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