The National Corn Growers Association is optimistic that growers will have a new tool available in their struggles with resistant weeds next year. In an unconventional series of events, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review the registration of Enlist Duo, a herbicide developed by Dow Agrosciences to aid in the fight against hard to control weeds.

The court chose to ask for a more robust review instead of denying the Agency’s request to scrap or vacate the herbicide’s registration. This science based path forward denies the requests both of the environmental groups who brought the suit and the EPA. .

“While we find this a positive development, we are tempering our optimism as concerns remain over pending lawsuits against Enlist Duo,” said NCGA Trade Policy and Biotechnology Action Team Chair John Linder, a farmer from Ohio. “In our continual fight against weeds, farmers need new tools to become available in a timely manner, and this can only be achieved through a predictable, science-based process. Anti-agriculture activists have done their best to disrupt this process, but the court chose a more moderate, thoughtful path. We appreciate this reasoned approach.”

NCGA will continue working with the EPA as it moves forward in this process and on the approval of other pending herbicide resistant production systems.