Core tip: According to a report from the Chinese website of the World Agrochemicals Network, on February 6, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the most stringent protective measures in the agency's history for the over-the-top (OTT) application of dicamba on dicamba-resistant cotton and soybean crops. This decision aims to respond to the strong calls from U.S. cotton and soybean growers, especially those in the Cotton Belt. They pointed out that herbicide-resistant weeds (such as Palmer amaranth) have become difficult to control with other existing methods, severely threatening crop yields and farm livelihoods, hence the urgent need to retain the tool of dicamba OTT application.