The herbicide dicamba was supposed to solve farmers' weed problems – instead, it's making farming harder for many of them

Soybean plants on an Arkansas farm. Those at left show signs of damage from dicamba; others at right were planted later in the season. Washington Post via Getty Images

In October 2021 I was a guest on a popular podcast to discuss my recently published book, “Seed Money: Monsanto’s Past and Our Food Future,” which examines the agribusiness giant’s influence on the global food system. After the show, I got a lot of calls from around the world, but one really stood out to me: A farmer speaking on his cellphone from the seat of his combine in South Dakota as he harvested soybeans.

Farmers don’t like to stop tractors on good-weather days in the fall, but this was important. The caller wanted to talk about a chemical weedkiller called dicamba that had been sprayed on neighboring fields. He claimed it was damaging his crops. And he wasn’t alone.