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it s going to nave a iremenaous „ impact on peanut farmers both from * a weed add grass control standpoint ; and an economic standpoint,” he - said. Mr. Allison estimated that 85 - percent of Virginia’s total peanut - acreage is treated with some form of I dinoseb. I
The herbicide has been applied ; on peanut fields at a cost of three to ' five dollars per acre. Alternatives • could cost farmers at least three times as much, Mr. Allison said. -
“A task force of Virginia Tech re- ‘ searchers and Extension specialists * is studying various alternatives,” he * said. “We’re looking into emergency * labels for some new chemicals and * will have some alternatives in place ‘ by early J anuary. ” «
Implications are also great for " commercial growers of potatoes, - snap beans, cucumbers, peas and - sweet com. “Dinoseb was one of the - least expensive and most effective treatments that vegetable producers had,” said Henry Wilson of Tech’s Eastern Shore Agricultural Experiment Station in Painter.
The weed scientist reports that 1 there are no dinoseb substitutes for cucumbers, snap beans or peas. “There are other approaches for sweet com, but they prevent crop rotation with beans or cucumbers,” Mr. Wilson said. Chemical alternatives are available for the 15,000 acres of potatoes grown in Virginia, but they are very expensive.
Soybean producers can also ex- - pect to feel the effects of the ban in • their wallets. “AlthQugh it m^y cost them more, soybean farmers, have a greater arsenal of herbicides to I choose from than vegetable growers,” said Mr. Wilson. “Dinoseb was ; not a major chemical in Virginia soybean production.”
The loss of dinoseb will have a significant but not devastating effect ! on the plans of small grain farmers. Daniel E. Brann, Extension grains specialist at Tech, explained, “Just last year, we learned how to use dinoseb effectively and economically at a low rate. It was costing about i two dollars per acre to apply on 1 wheat and barley.”
With no labeled alternative avail- ; able, small grain producers are back ; to square one. “The loss will present ; another challenge to wheat and bar- * ley growers,” Mr. Brann said. “We • survived without it before, but the ‘ farmer really needed all the eco- * nomic advantages he could find in his * toolbox.”
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