The Arkansas Supreme Court on Monday put a halt to a judge's ruling that allowed 37 farmers in northeast Arkansas to avoid the state's ban on dicamba.
After the ruling, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said the state's April 16-Oct. 31 ban on in-crop use of the herbicide "is in full force across the entire state."
Circuit Judge Randy Philhours had granted a temporary restraining order for 37 farmers who had filed a lawsuit in Clay County Circuit Court against the state Plant Board's dicamba ban.
Three other circuit judges -- Tonya Alexander in Mississippi County, Christopher Morledge in Phillips County and Tim Fox in Pulaski County -- had issued rulings favorable to farmers, granting the farmers exemptions in each case. The Supreme Court has now halted all four decisions, pending trials and appeals.
In a fifth case, Circuit Judge Melissa Bristow Richardson in Jonesboro refused farmers' request for a temporary restraining order.
The Plant Board instituted the cutoff date after receiving 997 complaints last year about dicamba damage to crops not tolerant of the herbicide.