AgPro reports that the first dicamba drift damage trials are on track to begin a year from now in October 2019.

Several cases have been combined into a federal multidistrict litigation, and that case is moving forward in U.S. District Court in Missouri.

The first case in this MDL to be heard will be that of Bader Farms Inc., a Missouri peach farm that alleges tens of thousands of peach trees were damaged by dicamba drift in 2015 and 2016.

AgWeb published a statement by Bayer, the new owner of Monsanto, responding to the lawsuits.  They pass the blame on to applicators and claim they should be liable, not the company:

Monsanto took many steps to warn growers, dealers and applicators that dicamba was not approved for in-crop use during the 2015 and 2016 seasons, that such use would violate state and federal law and was not authorized by Monsanto. During the 2017 season, Monsanto provided extensive education and training to growers and applicators on XtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology application requirements. We remain confident in growers’ ability to follow all application requirements and abide by the law, but if some did not, they should bear responsibility in this instance. The lawsuit is wholly without merit, and we will defend ourselves accordingly.

Source:

Sonja Begemann, “Dicamba Trials To Start October 2019,” AgPro, October 15, 2018.