Nebraska Adoption of Dicamba-Tolerant Seeds

Nebraska farmers planted 39 percent of their soybean acres to dicamba-tolerant seeds in 2018 according to the USDA Economic Research Service. Nationwide, 43 percent of soybean acres were planted to dicamba-tolerant seeds.

The figures come from farmers’ responses to surveys conducted by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The survey results also showed that 27 percent of Nebraska’s soybean acres were treated with dicamba, even though 39 percent of Nebraska’s soybean acres were planted to dicamba-tolerant seeds. This is consistent with all the 19 states studied by the USDA. More acres were planted to dicamba-tolerant seed than were treated with dicamba.  

The use of dicamba-tolerant seeds has grown rapidly in recent years as farmers search for alternative means of controlling glyphosate-tolerant weeds. The increase in the use of dicamba-tolerant seed between 2016-2018 is like the rate at which farmers adopted glyphosate-tolerant varieties between 1996-1998. Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kansas led states with the most dicamba-tolerant seed use in 2018—79 percent, 71 percent, and 69 percent of soybean acres respectively. More information can be found at: https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2019/october/the-use-of-genetically-engineered-dicamba-tolerant-soybean-seeds-has-increased-quickly-benefiting-adopters-but-damaging-crops-in-some-fields/