CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- A federal grand jury in Cape Girardeau has indicted a New Madrid County farmer and his farming business on charges of illegally applying dicamba herbicide on crops.
Federal prosecutors announced the indictment earlier this week.
Bobby David Lowrey, 51 of Parma, Missouri, and his business, Lowrey Farms, are charged in a 53-count indictment with unlawful application of a pesticide, making a false statement and obstruction of justice, according to the indictment.
Forty-nine of the counts allege misapplication of the herbicide. Three counts deal with obstruction of justice and another count deals with making a false statement.
The Parma man is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in federal court.
Lowrey and his farming operation in 2016 illegally applied dicamba 24 times to soybean crops and 25 times to cotton crops, the indictment states.
Lowrey planted soybean and cotton varieties that were genetically modified to be resistant to dicamba, federal prosecutors said.
The herbicide was not approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency for post-planting application to cotton crops and had limitations on its use with soybean crops, prosecutors said.
On multiple occasions in 2016, dicamba was applied illegally to planted cotton and non-mature soybean crops, according to the indictment filed in federal court Nov. 13.
Farmers with crops growing near Lowrey's fields reported damage to their crops in May and June 2016 "consistent with drift" from sprayed dicamba, the indictment states.
Dicamba is designed for use on genetically modified soybeans and cotton, and can devastate crops not designed to withstand it. Dicamba sprayed on fields can drift onto adjacent fields and damage crops that are not dicamba-resistant, the Missouri Department of Agriculture said.
In response to numerous complaints, state Agriculture Department investigators met with Lowrey in July 2016.
Lowrey told investigators he applied the herbicide only during the allowed times, and provided "altered" logs showing when dicamba had been applied.
Prosecutors said Lowrey and Lowrey Farms through their agents and employees "knowingly altered, falsified" documents in an effort "to impede, obstruct and influence" the investigation.
If convicted, Lowrey faces up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, prosecutors said.
"Although weed killers like dicamba have been around for decades, it is critical that applicators follow manufacturer instructions when applying them," EPA special agent in charge Jeffrey Martinez said in a news release from federal prosecutors.
"The misuse of this product has resulted in significant crop damage at neighboring farms," Martinez said.
The indictment, he said, "shows that EPA and its law enforcement partners will do what it takes to ensure the safe and legal use of herbicides."
The case was investigated by the EPA and Missouri's agriculture and natural resources departments.
Dicamba damage has been widespread, prompting thousands of complaints across the nation and numerous lawsuits. A dispute over dicamba damage also was blamed for the fatal shooting two years ago of an Arkansas farmer.
Nationally, more than 3.6 million acres of soybeans were damaged by dicamba in 2017 alone, according to a class-action civil suit filed against Monsanto (now owned by Bayer), which makes the herbicide.
The Southeast Missourian reported in October 2017 the Missouri Department of Agriculture had received more than 300 dicamba-related complaints. Most of the complaints came from Mississippi, Scott, Stoddard, New Madrid and Dunklin counties.