NASS Highlights 2015 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey - Soybeans

NASS Highlights

•

May 2016

No. 2016-4

2015 AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL USE SURVEY

AGRICULTURAL
SoybeansUSE
CHEMICAL
About the Survey

The 2015 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey of soybean producers collected
data about fertilizer and pesticide use as well as pest management practices
in growing soybeans. NASS conducted the survey in 19 states that accounted
for 96 percent of the 82.7 million acres planted to soybeans in the United
States in 2015: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North
Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin (Fig. 1).

AGRICULTURAL
CHEMICAL USE

The Agricultural Chemical Use
Program of USDA’s National
Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)
is the federal government’s official
source of statistics about on-farm and
post-harvest commercial fertilizer and
pesticide use and pest management
practices. NASS conducts field crop
agricultural chemical use surveys
as part of the Agricultural Resource
Management Survey.
NASS conducted the soybean
chemical use survey in fall 2015.

Data are for the 2015
crop year, the oneyear period beginning
after the 2014 harvest
and ending after the
2015 harvest.

Fig. 1. States in the 2015 Soybean Chemical Use Survey

Access the Data
Access 2015 soybean chemical use
data, as well as results from prior
surveys of soybean chemical use,
through the Quick Stats 2.0 database
(http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov).
•
•
•
•
•

In Program, select “Survey”
In Sector, select “Environmental”
In Group, select “Field Crops”
In Commodity, select “Soybeans”
Select your category, data item,
geographic level, and year

For pre-defined Quick Stats queries,
go to http://bit.ly/AgChem and click
“Data Tables” under the 2015 Cotton,
Oats, Soybeans, and Wheat heading.
For methodology information, go
to http://bit.ly/AgChem and click
“Methodology.”

Fertilizer Use
Fertilizer refers to a soil-enriching input that contains one or more plant
nutrients, primarily nitrogen (N), phosphate (P2O5), and potash (K2O). For the
2015 crop year, farmers applied nitrogen to 28 percent of planted acres, at an
average rate of 17 pounds per acre, for a total of 382.3 million pounds. They
applied phosphate to 39 percent of soybean planted acres and potash to
38 percent of
Table 1. Fertilizer Applied to Soybean Planted Acres, 2015 Crop Year
acres. (Table 1)

United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service

% of
Planted
Acres

Avg. Rate
for Year
(lbs/acre)

Total
Applied
(mil lbs)

Nitrogen (N)

28

17

382.3

Phosphate (P2O5)

39

51

1,563.1

Potash (K2O)

38

83

2,503.5

www.nass.usda.gov

Pesticide Use
The pesticide active ingredients used on soybeans are
classified in this report as herbicides (targeting weeds),
insecticides (targeting insects), fungicides (targeting
fungal disease), and other chemicals (targeting all
other pests and other materials, including extraneous
crop foliage). Herbicides were used most extensively,
applied to 96 percent of planted acres. Insecticides and
fungicides were applied to 22 and 11 percent of planted
acres, respectively. (Fig. 2)
Among herbicides, two different forms of glyphosate
were the most widely applied active ingredients (Table
2). They were also the top herbicides in a similar survey
in 2012.
Fig. 2. Pesticides Applied to Soybean Planted Acres, 2015 Crop Year
(% of planted acres)
Herbicides

96

Insecticides

22

Fungicides
Other

11

• Prevention practices involve actions to keep a pest
population from infesting a crop or field.
• Avoidance practices use cultural measures to
mitigate or eliminate detrimental effects of pests.
• Monitoring practices observe or detect pests
through sampling, counting, or other forms of
scouting.
• Suppression practices involve controlling or reducing
existing pest populations to mitigate crop damage.
The most widely used pest prevention practice in
growing soybeans was no-till or minimum till, used on
74 percent of planted acres. The top avoidance practice
was rotating crops (90 percent). Scouting for weeds was
the most widely used monitoring practice (94 percent).
(Table 3)
Table 3. Top Practice in Pest Management Category, 2015
(% of soybean planted acres)
Prevention: Used no-till or minimum till

74

Avoidance: Rotated crops during last three years

90

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

94

Suppression: Maintained ground covers, mulches, or other
physical barriers

44

1

Surveyed States: Acres of Soybeans Planted, 2015
Table 2. Top Herbicides Applied to Soybean Planted Acres,
2015 Crop Year

U.S. Total

% of
Planted
Acres

Avg. Rate
for Year
(lbs/acre)

Total
Applied
(mil lbs)

Glyphosate potassium salt

55

1.619 a

70.1 a

Glyphosate isopropylamine salt

30

1.106 a

25.9 a

Sulfentrazone

17

0.175

2.4

Fomesafen sodium

16

0.244

Chlorimuron ethyl

12

0.023

Active
Ingredient

a

3.0 a
0.2

Expressed in acid equivalent.

a

Pest Management Practices
The survey asked growers to report on the practices
they used to manage pests, including weeds, insects,
and diseases. Soybean growers reported practices in
four categories: prevention, avoidance, monitoring, and
suppression (PAMS).

Iowa
Illinois
Minnesota
North Dakota
Indiana
Nebraska
South Dakota
Ohio
Missouri
Kansas
Arkansas
Mississippi
Michigan
Wisconsin
Kentucky
North Carolina
Tennessee
Louisiana
Virginia
Total, Surveyed States

millions of acres
82.7

% of U.S.
100

9.9
9.8
7.6
5.8
5.6
5.3
5.2
4.8
4.6
3.9
3.2
2.3
2.0
1.9
1.8
1.8
1.8
1.4
0.6
79.1

11.9
11.9
9.2
7.0
6.7
6.4
6.2
5.7
5.5
4.7
3.9
2.8
2.5
2.3
2.2
2.2
2.1
1.7
0.8
95.7

Numbers may not add due to rounding.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
www.nass.usda.gov