2013 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey - Rice Highlights

NASS Highlights

May 2014

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No. 2014-4

2013 AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL USE SURVEY

AGRICULTURAL
Rice
CHEMICAL
USE
About the Survey

NASS conducted the 2013 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey among rice
producers in six states: Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri,
and Texas (Fig.1). These states accounted for virtually all of the rice acreage
planted in the United States in the 2013 crop year. All 2013 rice chemical use
data refer to these “program states.”

AGRICULTURAL
CHEMICAL USE

The Agricultural Chemical Use
Program of the National Agricultural
Statistics Service (NASS) is the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s official
source of statistics about on-farm and
post-harvest fertilizer and pesticide
use and pest management practices.
NASS conducts field crop agricultural
chemical use surveys as part of the
Agricultural Resource Management
Survey.

Fig. 1. Rice Chemical Use Survey: 2013 Program States

NASS conducted the rice chemical
use survey in fall 2013, collecting
data about fertilizer and pesticide
use, as well as pest management
practices, for the 2013 crop year.
The 2013 crop year for rice began in
2012 immediately after harvest of the
previous crop and ended in 2013 with
harvest of that year’s crop.

Access the Data
Access rice chemical use data through
the Quick Stats 2.0 database
(http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov).
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In Program, select “Survey”
In Sector, select “Environmental”
In Group, select “Field Crops”
In Commodity, select “Rice”
Select your category, data item,
geographic level, and year

For methodology information,
go to http://bit.ly/AgChem and
click “Methodology” under the
2013 Peanuts and Rice heading.

Fertilizer Use
Nitrogen (N), phosphate (P2O5), and potash (K2O) were the most widely used
fertilizer materials on rice. Farmers applied nitrogen to 97 percent of planted
acres, at an average rate of 174 pounds per acre for the 2013 crop year. They
applied phosphate to 75 percent of rice planted acres, at an average rate of
54 pounds per acre, and potash to 54 percent of planted acres. (Table 1)
In 2006, the last crop year for which NASS conducted the rice chemical use
survey, nitrogen was applied to 97 percent of planted acres, followed by
phosphate (67 percent) and potash (54 percent).

United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service

www.nass.usda.gov

Pest Management Practices

Table 1. Fertilizer Applied to Rice Planted Acres, 2013
a

% of
Planted
Acres

Crop Year
Average
Rate
(lbs/acre)

Total
Applied
(mil lbs)

Nitrogen (N)

97

174

421.9

Phosphate (P2O5)

75

54

101.3

Potash (K2O)

54

69

93.5

a The period starting immediately after harvest of the previous year’s

crop and ending at harvest of the current year’s crop.

Pesticide Use
The pesticide active ingredients used on rice are
classified in this report as herbicides, fungicides,
insecticides, or other chemicals. Herbicides were used
most extensively, applied to 97 percent of planted acres
(Fig. 2). Fungicides and insecticides were applied to 49
and 28 percent of planted acres, respectively. Among
herbicides, clomazone was the most widely used (55
percent of planted acres), followed by imazethapyr
ammonium salt and propanil (Table 2). In 2006,
herbicides were applied to 95 percent of planted acres.
Fig. 2. Pesticides Applied to Rice Planted Acres, 2013
(% of planted acres)
Herbicides

97

Fungicides

49

Insecticides
Other

The survey asked growers to report on the pest
management practices they used on rice, with
pests defined as weeds, insects, or diseases. Rice
growers reported practices in four categories of pest
management strategy:
• Prevention practices keep a pest population from
infesting a crop or field through various preceding
actions.
• Avoidance practices mitigate or eliminate the
detrimental effects of pests through cultural
measures.
• Monitoring practices involve observing or detecting
pests through systematic sampling, counting, or
other forms of scouting.
• Suppression practices involve controlling or reducing
existing pest populations to mitigate or eliminate
crop damage.
Scouting for weeds was the most widely reported
monitoring practice, used on 97 percent of rice
planted acres. The most used prevention practice was
chopping, mowing, plowing, or burning field edges,
etc. (65 percent of planted acres). Among avoidance
practices, crop rotation was practiced on 46 percent
of planted acres. The most used suppression practice
was comparing scouting data to published information
when deciding whether to take measures to manage
pests (30 percent). (Table 3)
The same practices were also the top practice in their
categories in 2006.

28
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Table 3. Top Practice in Pest Management Category, 2013 and 2006
(% of rice planted acres)

Table 2. Top Herbicides Applied to Rice Planted Acres, 2013
Active
Ingredient

% of
Planted
Acres

Crop Year a
Average
Rate
(lbs/acre)

Total
Applied
(lbs)

Clomazone

55

0.379

523,000

Imazethapyr ammonium salt

44

0.108 b

119,000 b

Propanil

43

4.500

4,779,000

Quinclorac

30

0.361

266,000

a The period starting immediately after harvest of the previous year’s

2013

2006

Prevention: Chopped, mowed, plowed, or burned field
edges, etc.

65

54

Avoidance: Rotated crops during last three years

46

57

Monitoring: Scouted for weeds (deliberately, or by general
observations while performing tasks)

97

98

Suppression: Compared scouting data to published
information when deciding whether to take measures
to manage pests

30

32

crop and ending at harvest of the current year’s crop.

b Expressed in acid equivalent.

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