NASS Highlights 2016 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey - Vegetables

NASS Highlights

July 2017

•

No. 2017-4

2016 AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL USE SURVEY

AGRICULTURAL
VegetableUSE
Crops
CHEMICAL
99 percent . . .

The 2016 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey collected data about pesticide use
and pest management practices on acres planted to 28 different vegetable
crops. NASS conducted the survey among producers in 19 states, focusing
on the states that were major producers for the surveyed crops. (Fig. 1) In
most cases, the combination of states surveyed represented a significant
percentage of the acres planted in 2015. (See the matrix on page 4 for the
specific crops surveyed in each state.)

AGRICULTURAL
CHEMICAL USE

. . . of vegetable acres were
monitored for pests by scouting
for insects, mites, and diseases.

About the Survey
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 agricultural
chemical use surveys as part of the
Agricultural Resource Management
Survey. NASS collected data on
vegetable chemical use in fall 2016.

Data are for the 2016 crop year, the one-year period beginning after the
2015 harvest and ending after the 2016 harvest. Data are available online
for all 28 vegetables
Fig. 1. States in the 2016 Vegetable Chemical Use Survey
(see sidebar for
(number of crops surveyed in state)
how to access). This
document highlights
5
five selected
vegetables: bell
2
5
7
6
peppers, onions,
8
3
pumpkins, squash,
5
2 2 4
and watermelons.
23
7

2

4

8

Access the Data

1

8

Access vegetable chemical use data
through the Quick Stats 2.0 database
(http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov).
•
•
•
•

In Program, select “Survey”
In Sector, select “Environmental”
In Group, select “Vegetables”
In Commodity, select the
vegetable(s) you want data for
• Select your category, data item,
geographic level, and year
For pre-defined Quick Stats queries
that take you to data for a particular
vegetable, go to http://bit.ly/AgChem
and click “Data Tables” under the
2016 Vegetables heading. For survey
methodology information, click
“Methodology.”

10

Pesticide Use
The pesticide active ingredients used on vegetables are classified 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).
Bell pepper growers applied fungicides to more acres (84 percent of planted
acres) than insecticides or herbicides (81 and 44 percent of planted acres,
respectively). Watermelon and squash growers similarly applied fungicides
to more acres than other pesticides. Pumpkin growers, on the other hand,

United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service

www.nass.usda.gov

Fig. 2. Pesticides Applied to Selected Vegetables, 2016
(% of planted acres)

Who Uses Agricultural Chemical Use Data?
Producers, consumers, suppliers, policymakers, USDA and other federal and
state agencies rely on chemical use and other pest management data to make
decisions about health, environment, safety, and trade issues. Some examples of
how the data are used:
• To evaluate the quality and safety of U.S. food products, providing assurances
to both domestic and international customers.
• To establish industry trends and determine the impact of on-farm chemical
use and pest management.
• To assess the quality of streams, rivers, and groundwater; the impact of
human activities; the benefits of conservation practices; and the effectiveness
of integrated pest management.
• To identify which chemicals farmers count on, making it more likely
regulators will re-register the product.

44
27

29
76

32

Pumpkins

69

6
51
53

Squash

76

13
52

80

Watermelons
20

Tables 1 through 3 show the top herbicides, insecticides,
and fungicides applied to each featured vegetable.

Herbicide

Insecticide

Fungicide

84

Other Chemicals

Table 2. Top Insecticides, by percent of planted acres, Selected
Vegetables, 2016 Crop Year

Table 1. Top Herbicides, by percent of planted acres, Selected
Vegetables, 2016 Crop Year
Avg. Rate for
Year
(lbs/acre)

92
91
88

Onions

applied herbicides to 76 percent of planted acres,
but fungicides and insecticides to fewer acres. Onion
growers applied the various kinds of pesticides more
equally. (Fig. 2)

% of
Planted
Acres

81
84

Bell Peppers

Total
Applied
(lbs)

% of
Planted
Acres

Avg. Rate for
Year
(lbs/acre)

Total
Applied
(lbs)

Bell Peppers

Bell Peppers
Napropamide

13

1.825

9,800

Chlorantraniliprole

49

0.103

2,100

S-Metolachlor

11

1.373

6,500

Zeta-cypermethrin

38

0.095

1,500

Pendimethalin

8

1.047

3,700

Imidacloprid

29

0.367

4,400

Onions

Onions
Oxyfluorfen

83

0.316

28,300

Methomyl

47

1.508

76,100

Bromoxynil octanoate

72

0.250

19,500

Spirotetramat

43

0.116

5,400

Pendimethalin

71

1.187

93,500

Spinetoram

41

0.103

4,500

Pumpkins

Pumpkins
Clomazone

57

0.527

12,100

Lambda-cyhalothrin

9

0.080

300

S-Metolachlor

41

1.244

20,600

Bifenthrin

7

0.122

400

Ethalfluralin

15

0.704

4,100

Permethrin

7

0.369

1,100

Squash

Squash
Clomazone

35

0.294

3,300

Bifenthrin

23

0.241

1,700

Ethalfluralin

15

0.621

3,000

Zeta-cypermethrin

17

0.063

300

S-Metolachlor

9

1.060

3,200

Acetamiprid

7

0.332

700

Flubendiamide

38

0.084

3,400

Imidacloprid

30

0.151

4,700

Chlorantraniliprole

22

0.083

1,900

Watermelons

Watermelons
Clethodim

26

0.129

3,600

Trifluralin

17

0.979

17,400

Ethalfluralin

13

0.560

7,900

2

2016 Vegetable Crops

Table 3. Top Fungicides, by percent of planted acres, Selected
Vegetables, 2016 Crop Year
% of
Planted
Acres

Avg. Rate for
Year
(lbs/acre)

Total
Applied
(lbs)

Copper hydroxide

50

1.818

38,100

Mancozeb

36

2.914

42,300

Azoxystrobin

36

0.237

3,500

Mancozeb

57

3.276

219,000

Copper hydroxide

46

0.930

45,700

Chlorothalonil

44

3.080

147,000

Chlorothalonil

59

4.438

105,600

Copper hydroxide

34

0.893

12,100

Azoxystrobin

25

0.226

2,300

99 percent of vegetable planted acres. The most widely
used avoidance practice was crop rotation, used on
82 percent of planted acres.
The prevention practice of chopping, spraying, mowing,
plowing, or burning field edges, ditches, and fence
lines was used on 78 percent of planted acres, and the
suppression practice of applying various pesticides to
keep pests from becoming resistant was used on
73 percent of acres. (Table 4)

Bell Peppers

Onions

Table 4. Top Practices in Pest Management Category, 2016 Crop Year
(% of planted acres, 28 vegetables)
Prevention

Pumpkins

Squash

Chopped, sprayed, mowed, plowed, or burned field edges, ditches or
fence lines

78

Cleaned equipment and implements after field work to reduce spread
of pests

75

Removed or burned crop residues

68

Chlorothalonil

65

3.550

74,300

Cultivated crop acres for weed control

67

Copper hydroxide

26

1.466

12,200

Used water management practices

62

Sulfur

17

10.219

56,100

Avoidance
Rotated crops during past three years

82

Mancozeb

56

3.046

176,700

Chose crop or plan variety for specific pest resistance

45

Chlorothalonil

55

4.257

244,300

Planned planting locations to avoid cross infestation of pests

35

Copper hydroxide

48

0.534

26,700

Adjusted planting or harvesting dates

31

Adjusted row spacing, plant density, or row directions

24

Watermelons

Pest Management Practices

Monitoring

The survey asked growers to report on the practices they
used to manage pests, including weeds, insects, and
diseases. Vegetable growers reported practices in four
categories of pest management strategy, widely referred
to as PAMS – prevention, avoidance, monitoring, and
suppression.
• Prevention practices involve actions to keep a pest
population from infesting a crop or field.
• Avoidance practices use cultural measures to
mitigate or eliminate the detrimental effects of pests.
• Monitoring practices observe or detect pests by
sampling, counting, or other forms of scouting.
• Suppression practices involve controlling or reducing
existing pest populations to mitigate crop damage.

99

Scouted for diseases (deliberately or by general observations while
performing other tasks)

99

Scouted for weeds (deliberately or by general observations while
performing other tasks)

96

Scouted for pests (deliberately)

92

Used weather data in decision making

75

Suppression

Scouting for insects, mites, and diseases were the most
widely reported monitoring practices, used on

Chemical Use Survey

Scouted for insects and mites (deliberately or by general observations
while performing other tasks)

3

Used pesticides with different mechanisms of action to keep pest from
becoming resistant to pesticides

73

Maintained ground covers, mulches, or other physical barriers

48

Compared scouting data to published information to assist in decision
making

45

Applied biological pesticides

28

Used floral lures, attractants, repellents, pheromone traps, or biological
pest controls

17

www.nass.usda.gov

Asparagus

X

Beans, snap (FM)

X

X

X

Cabbage (FM)

X
X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Carrots (PR)

X

Cauliflower

X

Celery

X

Corn, sweet (FM)

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Corn, sweet (PR)
X

Cucumbers (PR)

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Honeydews

X

Lettuce, head

X

X

Lettuce, other

X

X

Onions

X

X

X

X

Garlic

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Peppers, bell

X

Pumpkins

X
X

X

X
X

X

X
X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Squash

X

X

Strawberries

X

X

Tomatoes (FM)

X

X

Tomatoes (PR)

X

Watermelons

X

X

23

10

4

X

X

X

X

X

X

Peas, green (PR)

No. of Crops

X

X

Cucumbers (FM)

Spinach (FM)

Wisconsin

Washington

X

X

Carrots (FM)

Texas

Tennessee

South Carolina

Pennsylvania

Oregon

Ohio

North Carolina

X

X

Broccoli

New York

New Jersey

Minnesota

X

Beans, snap (PR)

Cantaloupes

Michigan

Indiana

Illinois

Georgia

Florida

California

Arizona

States and Crops in the 2016 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey

X

X

X

X

X
X

X
X

X

X
8

2

X

X

X

X
2

8

2

5

6

X
7

4

5

3

X
1

2

8

5

7

FM = fresh market. PR = processing.

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