NASS Highlights 2015 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey - Cotton

NASS Highlights

•

May 2016

No. 2016-2

2015 AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL USE SURVEY

AGRICULTURAL
Cotton USE
CHEMICAL
About the Survey

The 2015 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey collected data about fertilizer
and pesticide use as well as pest management practices in growing cotton.
NASS conducted the survey among cotton producers in 11 states that
together accounted for 94 percent of the 8.6 million acres planted to cotton
in the United States in 2015: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia,
Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas
(Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. States in the 2015 Cotton Chemical Use Survey

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 cotton 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.

Access the Data
Access 2015 chemical use data, as well
as results from prior surveys of cotton
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 “Cotton”
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 78 percent of planted acres, at an
average rate of 79 pounds per acre, for a total of 503.7 million pounds. They
applied phosphate to 56 percent of cotton planted acres and potash to
42 percent of
Table 1. Fertilizer Applied to Cotton 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)

78

79

503.7

Phosphate (P2O5)

56

41

187.7

Potash (K2O)

42

74

250.3

www.nass.usda.gov

Pesticide Use
The pesticide active ingredients used on cotton 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 92 percent of planted acres. Other chemicals such as
dessicants were applied to 76 percent, insecticides and
fungicides to fewer. (Fig. 2)
Among herbicides, two different forms of glyphosate
were the most widely applied active ingredients,
followed by trifluralin (Table 2).
Fig. 2. Pesticides Applied to Cotton Planted Acres, 2015 Crop Year
(% of planted acres)
Herbicides

92
76

Other
Insecticides
Fungicides

40
1

• 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 involve observing or detecting
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 prevention practice in growing
cotton was cleaning equipment and implements after
field work, used on 55 percent of planted acres. The
top avoidance practice was choosing crop or plant
varieties for their resistance to specific pests (55
percent). Scouting for weeds was the most widely used
monitoring practice (87 percent), and using pesticides
with different mechanisms of action was the top
suppression practice (33 percent). (Table 3)
Table 3. Top Practice in Pest Management Category, 2015
(% of cotton planted acres)
Prevention: Cleaned equipment and implements after field work

55

Avoidance: Chose crop or plant variety for specific pest resistance

55

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

87

Suppression: Used pesticides with different mechanisms of action to
prevent pests from developing resistance

33

Table 2. Top Herbicides Applied to Cotton Planted Acres,
2015 Crop Year
Active
Ingredient

% of
Planted
Acres

Avg. Rate
for Year
(lbs/acre)

Total
Applied
(mil lbs)

Surveyed States: Acres of Cotton Planted, 2015

Glyphosate potassium salt

47

2.406a

9.1a

Glyphosate isopropylamine salt

37

1.632a

4.9a

U.S. Total
Texas
Georgia
North Carolina
Mississippi
Alabama
South Carolina
Arkansas
Missouri
California
Tennessee
Arizona
Total, Surveyed States

Trifluralin

32

0.968

2.6

Diuron

23

0.573

1.1

Fomesafen sodium

16

0.237a

0.3a

a

Expressed in acid equivalent.

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

millions of acres
8.6

% of U.S.
100

4.8
1.1
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.1
8.0

56.1
13.2
4.5
3.7
3.7
2.7
2.4
2.2
1.9
1.8
1.2
93.5

Numbers may not add due to rounding.

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