EPA’s 2026 dicamba labels come with new restrictions
Feb. 23, 2026
By Mary Hightower
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Fast Facts
- 2026 dicamba labels add temperature cutoffs, reduce maximum application rates
- Registration for over-the-top dicamba is for two years
- Delayed dicamba registration had limited effect on seed purchases, herbicide availability
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Download file photo of Brigit Rollins
FAYETTVILLE, Ark. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued new labels for use of over-the-top dicamba products in tolerant soybeans and cotton that include temperature-based application limits, as well as actions to reduce volatility and runoff.
In its announcement, EPA acknowledged the battle farmers face with herbicide-resistant weeds, concerns about public health, as well as drift and volatility.
The labels are “a time limited approval covering only the next two growing seasons and will be subject to further review,” EPA said
Brigit Rollins, staff attorney with the National Agricultural Law Center, said that EPA’s action isn’t the first approval under its new policy driven by the Endangered Species Act, but “I do think this will be one of the ones that gets a lot of major attention.
“Glyphosate and dicamba are definitely headline-getters,” she said.
The EPA can issue conditional or unconditional registrations. An unconditional registration is 15 years. This year’s dicamba registration is conditional, “with the understanding that more data is needed before the EPA can make that an unconditional registration,” Rollins said.
The EPA issued two-year conditional registrations for dicamba products in 2016 and 2018. In 2020, EPA issued a five-year conditional registration. However, the 2020 registration was vacated by an Arizona federal court in 2024.
New restrictions
The new labels retained more than a dozen restrictions from a previous label that include downwind buffers, wind speed and droplet size requirements, while adding four new restrictions for the 2026 registration:
- Maximum application rate cut in half: A maximum of two applications of 0.5 pounds of dicamba per acre may be made annually, for a maximum of 1.0 pound of all dicamba products annually. The 2020 registration permitted up to four applications of 0.5 pounds/acre for a total of 2.0 pounds of dicamba annually.
- Doubled volatility reduction agents: 40 ounces per acre of approved volatility reduction agent must be added to every application.
- Mandatory conservation practices: Growers must achieve three runoff/erosion mitigation points from EPA's certified conservation practices menu on each treated field to protect endangered and threatened species. In some geographically-specific pesticide use limitation areas where especially vulnerable species require additional safeguards, six points are required. These practices, such as vegetative buffers and cover crops, physically prevent dicamba from moving off-field in runoff or eroded soil, protecting waterways and habitats.
- Temperature-based application limits: For applications occurring on a day with a forecasted temperature between 85-95 degrees Fahrenheit on the day of or the day after application, a user may only treat up to 50 percent of their untreated dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybean acres in a county. Remaining dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybean acres may not be treated until at least two days after the initial application. This reduces risk during conditions when volatility and drift are elevated. No applications may occur if the temperature is forecasted to be at or above 95 degrees Fahrenheit on the day of or the day after a planned application, eliminating applications during the highest-risk conditions.
In the field
Registrations are typically announced in the fall as farmers make decisions about what they plan to plant the following spring. However, the timing of this year’s label announcement seemed to have little impact on seed purchases and herbicide availability, say extension agronomists and weed scientists for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
“The short answer on the soybean side is there will not be a shortage for XtendFlex® soybean varieties,” said Jeremy Ross, extension soybean agronomist. “Even with the lack of a dicamba label last year, 85 percent of the Arkansas acreage was planted to XtendFlex.
“Growers had the option to spray Liberty without having dicamba,” he said. “With the new dicamba label, I anticipate 85-90 percent of the soybean acreage in the state to be XtendFlex.
“All of the seed companies have XtendFlex varieties, except Pioneer, which has gone all in with Enlist®,” Ross said. Enlist is a non-dicamba herbicide.
The cotton side mirrored what was happening with soybeans, said Zachary Treadway, extension cotton agronomist.
“We continued planting XtendFlex varieties even after the label was abandoned,” he said. “The majority of cotton varieties carry the dicamba resistant trait. There should not be any problem securing seed.”
As for herbicide supply, Bob Scott, weed scientist for the Division of Agriculture, said “I have been told by at least one dealer and two companies that they will have ample supply of in-season products in the channel.”
Dicamba has been used since the 1960s to manage certain weeds but was applied primarily in the spring before weeds emerged. With weeds such as Palmer amaranth, or pigweed, developing resistance to other weed management chemistries, farmers started to use dicamba in-season. The development of dicamba-tolerant soybeans and cotton led to EPA issuing its first ever registration allowing dicamba to be used directly onto crops for the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons.
Mention of product names does not imply endorsement by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
About the National Agricultural Law Center
Created by Congress in 1987, the National Agricultural Law Center serves as the nation’s leading source of agricultural and food law research and information. The NALC works with producers, agribusinesses, state and federal policymakers, lenders, Congressional staffers, attorneys, land grant universities, students, and many others to provide objective, nonpartisan agricultural and food law research and information to the nation’s agricultural community.
The NALC is a unit of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and works in close partnership with the National Agricultural Library, a subsidiary of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service. For information about the NALC, visit nationalaglawcenter.org. The NALC is also on X, Facebook and LinkedIn as @nataglaw. Subscribe online to receive NALC Communications, including webinar announcements, the NALC’s Quarterly Newsletter, and The Feed.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. To learn more about ag and food research in Arkansas, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station at aaes.uada.edu.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land-grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
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