An emergency motion was filed late last week, asking a federal court to bring all dicamba use in the U.S. to an immediate halt. 

DTN says the motion also asks that the Environmental Protection Agency be held in contempt of court for its decision to permit farmers to use their existing stocks of three dicamba herbicides. 

If the judge agrees, that could once again leave farmers without the dicamba herbicide options they need to use on millions of acres of dicamba-tolerant soybeans and cotton through the summer growing season. 

The emergency motion was filed by the same plaintiffs who brought the lawsuit against the EPA in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

The suit demanding the court bring an end to the registrations of three dicamba herbicides succeeded on June 3rd when the judge ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor. 

Five days after that, the EPA issued a cancellation order, ending the registrations but allowing farmers and applicators to continue to use existing stocks until July 31st. 

The plaintiffs, including the Center for Food Safety and the Center for Biological Diversity, estimated that up to 16 million pounds of dicamba could be applied in the coming weeks, which they say is a direct violation of the court’s ruling.