Herbicide Plant-Back Restrictions Explained: Purpose and Application

Are you crystal clear on the purpose of plant-back restrictions and on the length of time required between a herbicide application and the planting of your next crop or cover crop? If not, the guidance below should help. It was developed based on a poster presentation made during the 2022 annual meeting of the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA). For further information regarding the plant-back restrictions for vegetable crops, please refer to Pest Management section (p. 110-118) of the 2022/2023 Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations.

  • What is a plant-back interval?
    A plant-back interval is the minimum period of time between a pesticide treatment and the planting of your next crop. The EPA establishes plant-back intervals as label requirements for herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, plant growth regulators and other types of pesticides.
  • What’s the purpose of a plant-back interval?
    EPA’s primary focus in setting plant-back intervals is to protect human health by preventing over exposure to pesticide residues in crops – including fruits and vegetables. Regulatory experts include all residue sources when assessing human dietary exposure.
  • Do plant-back intervals also address crop phytotoxicity concerns?
    While pesticide registrants may choose to add label instructions to address potential crop injury or phytotoxicity concerns, these instructions are independent of EPA-mandated plant-back restrictions that focus on limiting human exposure to pesticide residues. If your crop is intended to be harvested for human or animal consumption, you must still comply with the minimum residue-based plant-back intervals, regardless of whether phytotoxicity guidance is given.
  • How are plant-back intervals established?
    EPA requires that pesticide registrants submit residue studies to document pesticide levels and related metabolites. Study data is then used to develop appropriate plant-back interval guidance based on allowed tolerance levels in the plant-back crop. All residue sources from pesticides applied within the current and previous growing seasons are included when assessing human dietary exposure. It is important to note that the plant-back intervals specified by EPA are crop specific. The interval specified for tomato, for example, might vary from that established for cole crops.
  • What should I do if I’m planting a crop that isn’t specified on the label?
    Crops that are not specifically addressed on the label fall into the “other crops” category and require the maximum plant-back interval indicated on the label.
  • Do plant-back intervals apply to both my rotational crop and my cover crop?
    If the crop is harvested for human consumption or is grazed by or fed to livestock that will be consumed by humans, the crop is considered a “rotational crop” and requires an appropriate plant-back interval to protect human health.
    Seasonal plantings that will not be consumed directly by humans or by livestock that will then be consumed by humans are considered “cover crops.” Cover crops such as ryegrass or hairy vetch are grown to improve soil quality, reduce erosion or manage weeds. Since there is no risk of dietary exposure, plant-back restrictions do not apply when planting cover crops.
  • How do I calculate the plant-back interval?
    To comply with the mandated plant-back interval, use the date of the last pesticide application as a starting point. If, for example, the crop selected has a 365-day plant-back interval, the 365-day window begins on the day after the last pesticide application to the previous crop. You can plant that next crop 365 days later.

Resources for New Jersey Licensed Private Pesticide Applicators & Growers – 2022 Meetings Tools for Regulatory Compliance

In 2022 Rutgers provided growers with regulatory updates in presentations at NJACTS, the Blueberry Open house and South Jersey Vegetable and Field Crop, North & South Jersey Tree Fruit, and Blueberry Twilights.  Thanks to all host farms. Laminated WPS Pesticide Safety Posters and other WPS Resources were distributed at all Twilight meetings. Specific tools for […]

Crop progress and sicklebarring palmer greenstalks

Salem County: Two plus inches of June precipitation on the 9th and 12th carried non-irrigated corn and soybean through the month with only trace amounts of precipitation until the 24th when some areas received another half inch.

In exceptionally wet fields, climbing humidity levels on the 13th, 14th, and 15th were high enough to allow for foliar disease development in beans. But the following week of low humidity was less than conducive for disease proliferation until the 22nd through the 25th when humidity levels briefly rose and remained in the high 80’s and 90’s for three days, before dropping nicely to the mid 60’s the last two days of June. However, wind speeds of 15 to 25 mph from June 13th to June 19th wicked moisture out of corn and soybeans leaving the crops in a moisture deficit.

This is confirmed in ‘The Evaporative Demand Drought Index’ (EDDI) monitoring tool for South-Jersey. This tool created by the NOAA Physical Science Laboratory is an indicator of both rapidly evolving “flash” droughts and sustained droughts. “EDDI can offer early warning of agricultural drought, hydrologic drought, and fire-weather risk.”

Pest pressure: Producers should monitor beans for Japanese beetle, green stink bug and grasshopper feeding going into July and be alert to excessive damage from flea beetles on crops stressed from wind evaporation. Palmer amaranth is exceptionally tolerant to droughty conditions and thrives under stresses that wilt other pigweed species. Shattercane and johnsongrass are both warm-season grasses that also thrive under these weather conditions.

Mechanical options: In addition to chemical control options, if droughty evaporative weather persists, producers should consider manually removing seedhead stalks to protect maximum yield projections in soybeans. The ideal mechanical tool to do this would be a front mounted sickle bar mower. Do-it-yourself fabricators maybe interested in this attachment created specifically to deal with palmer amaranth by a Kansas farmer. (A cooperative build, purchase, may be a good investment for combine and spray rig operators in the County). https://www.rowshaver.com/

Forecast: Going into this weekend, the 24-hour precipitation forecast for

New Jersey anticipates a tenth of an inch to half inch of rainfall for most of Salem County through July 3 and much-needed swath probable for the northern counties where drought conditions the last seven days are 51% to 75% below normal.

USDA June Acreage Report for Corn, Soybean and Wheat

The USDA released its June Acreage Report Here are the numbers: 2022 Corn Intended Acres: 89.9 million acres compared to the USDA March 31 report of 89.5 million acres and 93.3 million acres in 2021. This would be down 400,00 acres from the March report and down 3.4 million acres from last year. 2022 Soybean Planted Acres: 88.3 million acres vs. the USDA March 31 at 90.9 million acres and 87.2 million acres in 2021. This would be down 2.6 million acres from the March 31 report and up 1.2 million acres from last year. 2022 Wheat Planted Acres: 47.1 million acres this compares to the USDA March 31 report at 47.351 million acres and 46.703 million acres in 2021. Initial thoughts after reviewing the survey numbers: The numbers are neutral to corn and wheat and bullish short term and long term for soybeans. The total corn and soybean acreage is just 178.2 million acres. It looks like my early projection of 3 million acres of prevent plant may be 2 million acres too low.

The soybean market will be very weather sensitive, with 2.6 million acres less acres than the March 30 Prospective Planting report, this could create 134 million less soybean bushels than earlier estimates.

Shared from: https://www.agriculture.com/markets/analysis/actual-acres-planted-to-corn-rise-while-soybeans-drop-in-2022-usda-says?did=802009-20220630&utm_campaign=todays-news_newsletter&utm_source=agriculture.com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=063022&cid=802009&mid=91029761676&lctg=123588474

Sign Up By June 30 to Receive the 2022 Census of Agriculture

Sign up to be counted, agcensus counts

Agricultural producers who did not receive the 2017 Census of Agriculture and do not receive other USDA surveys or censuses have until June 30 to sign up to receive the 2022 Census of Agriculture. USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will mail ag census survey codes for responding securely online to every known U.S. producer this November. Hard copy questionnaires will follow in December.

The ag census, conducted for over 180 years, remains the only source of comprehensive and impartial agricultural data for every state and county in the nation. It includes every operation – large or small, urban or rural – from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products are produced and sold, or would normally be produced and sold, in the ag census year.

“The Census of Agriculture is a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them,” said Bruce Eklund, state statistician of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), New Jersey Field Office. “Every response is important. The Census of Agriculture is only taken once every five years and documents the value of America’s rural and urban farmers and ranchers. When it comes to Agriculture, people seek information about the local level. Help us document the importance of agriculture in your area.”

On the NASS webpage, producers can also access frequently asked questions, explore past and current ag census data, access tools to help spread the word about the upcoming ag census, learn about ag census special studies, and more.

NASS builds its distribution list for every Census of Agriculture between and during ag census through the official sign-up webpage and multiple National Agricultural Classification Surveys. To learn more about the 2022 Census of Agriculture, visit their website or call the NASS New Jersey Field Office at 503-308-0404.

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NASS is the federal statistical agency responsible for producing official data about U.S. agriculture and is committed to providing timely, accurate and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.

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