On the 18th of February the Better Farm IQ (CBH Group) announced the permit for the use of 2,4-D High Volatile Ester (HVE) has been issued, an important milestone in the fight to retain the use of HVE (and possibly LVE) products into the future.  This permit (per10370) gives the industry the opportunity to generate data which will prove the relative safety of this product.

 However, there are a couple of important points to note:

• This permit ONLY covers HV ester products sold under ChemAg, Conquest, Crop Care, 4 Farmers, Kenso and Nufarm brand names.  Each of these chemical manufacturers have made a significant financial contribution, without which, we would have undoubtedly lost the use of HV Esters for good.
• This permit only applies to growers in the shires listed in appendix 1 of the permit - use outside these shires is not covered.
• Most importantly, the permit requires that records are kept for all ester applications during the regional monitoring trial.  It is critically important that ALL use of ester 800 products during this period is captured and reported, otherwise, we will be unable to explain levels of 2,4-D ester vapour concentrations in the air.  We will need the support of all growers to achieve this and I will let you know the process for submitting Ester use records as soon as they are worked out.

A copy of the permit can be downloaded here.  per10370 44.11 Kb

Thanks to the Better Farm IQ team and CBH Group for the work they've put into getting this permit.