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Harvest Public Media is a reporting collaboration focused on issues of food, fuel and ﬁeld. Based at KCUR in Kansas City, Harvest covers these agriculture-related topics through an expanding network of reporters and partner stations throughout the Midwest.Most Harvest Public Media stories begin with radio- regular reports are aired on member stations in the Midwest. But Harvest also explores issues through online analyses, television documentaries and features, podcasts, photography, video, blogs and social networking. They are committed to the highest journalistic standards. Click here to read their ethics standards.Harvest Public Media was launched in 2010 with the support of a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Today, the collaboration is supported by CPB, the partner stations, and contributions from underwriters and individuals.Tri States Public Radio is an associate partner of Harvest Public Media. You can play an important role in helping Harvest Public Media and Tri States Public Radio improve our coverage of food, field and fuel issues by joining the Harvest Network.

11 Dicamba Damage Lawsuits to be Consolidated in Federal Court in St. Louis

Tri States Public Radio | By Erica Hunzinger

Published February 7, 2018 at 6:21 PM CST

Dicamba-resistant soybeans grown in a field in rural McLean County, Illinois, in August.

Lawsuits filed in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas against the makers of the herbicide dicamba will be centralized in the federal court in St. Louis.

The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Ligitation decidedto centralize the 11 cases, which allege the herbicide caused significant damage to soybean crops.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that attorneys for the companies that make dicamba — Monsanto, BASF, DuPont and Pioneer — opposed centralizing the lawsuits, but said St. Louis was preferable if it was done. Monsanto, which is based in St. Louis, said in an email that it had no specific comment on the decision.

Several Midwestern states saw record numbers of complaints about the herbicide last year, and the weed killer has been blamed for 3.6 million acres of damaged soybeans in 2017 alone.

In response to this year's crop damage, the EPA put forth stricter limits on when and how farmers can spray dicamba. Meanwhile, Arkansas has banned dicamba use from April 16 through Oct. 31, and other states are looking at whether to do the same.