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Crisis exemption issued for alternative
herbicides due to Newpath rice herbicide shortage
Staff Report
June 6, 2008 – To offset shortages of
Newpath rice herbicide, the federal EPA has granted a crisis exemption for
Arkansas farmers to use other imazethapyr herbicides for control of red rice
in Clearfield rice.
The imazethapyr products included in the exemption are
Pursuit, Raptor and Thunder herbicides.
The crisis exemption expires on June 19.
 Pursuit
and Raptor are manufacturered by BASF, maker of Newpath. Thunder is an
equivalent product marketed by Albaugh, Inc.
Susie Nichols, assistant director of the the Arkansas
Plant Board pesticide division,
issued an announcement late Thursday with accompanying labels.
In her letter, Nichols noted: “Please be aware that the
use of Thunder Herbicide on CLEARFIELD rice will be in violation of the
grower’s agreement with BASF.”
Shortages of Newpath have been looming for a couple of
weeks.
In interviews for this week’s issue of RiceFax:
Midsouth/Texas, a half-dozen of our contacts said farmers in their area were
having trouble finding Newpath and, in some cases, Clearpath and Facet
herbicides.
The reports came from Arkansas, as well as Mississippi
and Missouri.
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