A Missouri farmer has received a hefty fine for multiple violations of Arkansas dicamba laws.
According to the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, an unnamed Missouri famer has been fined $105,000 for nine violations of the state’s laws and regulations pertaining to dicamba. The violations reportedly occurred in 2018.
The Arkansas State Plant Board levied the fines against the farmer during a meeting on Oct. 23.
The board ruled that the farmer committed four “egregious” violations. These violations reportedly are connected to dicamba drift and using dicamba after that year’s cutoff date, April 16. In addition, the board found that the farmer failed to provide records, failed to keep records, failed to obtain a New Technology Training certificate and failed to obtain a Private Applicator license.
“Egregious” violations, according to Arkansas law at the time of the alleged violations, may result in a civil penalty of up to $25,000. Violations are held to be egregious if “significant off-target crop damage occurred as a result of the application of dicamba or an auxin-containing herbicide or any other new herbicide technology released after the effective date of August 1, 2017.”
The four egregious violations would add up to $100,000 alone.
A copy of the Plant Board’s findings is expected to be forward to the farmer, who will then have 30 days to file an appeal.
Arkansas Money & Politics will update this story as it develops.
READ MORE: Dicamba: From the Plant Board to Legislators to Farmers