NASS Highlights 2015 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey - Wheat

NASS Highlights

•

May 2016

No. 2016-5

2015 AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL USE SURVEY

AGRICULTURAL
Wheat USE
CHEMICAL
About the Survey

The 2015 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey of wheat producers collected
data about fertilizer and pesticide use as well as pest management practices
in growing wheat. NASS conducted the survey in 16 states that together
accounted for 87 percent of the 54.6 million acres planted to wheat in the
United States in 2015, including 86 percent of winter wheat acres, 91 percent
of spring wheat acres,
Fig. 1. States in the 2015 Wheat Chemical Use Survey
and 88 percent of
durum wheat acres.
(Fig. 1 and box on p. 2)

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 wheat chemical
use survey in fall 2015.

Access the Data
Access 2015 wheat chemical use data,
as well as results from prior surveys
of wheat chemical use, 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 “Wheat”
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.”

Data are for the 2015
crop year, the oneyear period beginning
after the 2014 harvest
and ending after the
2015 harvest. “Spring
wheat” does not
include durum.

Winter Wheat
Spring Wheat
Spring & Winter Wheat
Durum & Spring Wheat
Durum, Spring & Winter Wheat

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 nearly all acres
planted to durum
and spring wheat
(Table 1).

United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service

Table 1. Fertilizer Applied to Wheat Planted Acres, 2015 Crop Year

Winter
Nitrogen
Phosphate
Potash
Spring
Nitrogen
Phosphate
Potash
Durum
Nitrogen
Phosphate
Potash

% of
Planted
Acres

Avg. Rate
for Year
(lbs/acre)

Total
Applied
(mil lbs)

88
60
16

61
31
39

1,826.1
629.6
212.6

97
89
40

90
37
22

1,056.4
392.8
104.0

98
95
32

76
34
15

128.6
54.6
7.9

www.nass.usda.gov

Pesticide Use
In the surveyed states, farmers used 42 different
pesticide active ingredients on durum wheat acres,
59 different ingredients on other spring wheat acres,
and 96 on winter wheat acres. These pesticide active
ingredients are classified as herbicides (targeting
weeds), insecticides (targeting insects), fungicides
(targeting fungal disease), and other. Herbicides were
the most widely used, applied to 61 percent of winter
wheat planted acres and nearly all durum and other
spring wheat (Fig. 2). Table 2 shows the most widely
used herbicides for each wheat type.
Fig. 2. Pesticides Applied to Wheat Planted Acres, 2015 Crop Year
(% of planted acres)
Herbicides

61

Fungicides

19

Winter

Insecticides

5

96

categories: prevention, avoidance, monitoring, and
suppression (PAMS). Table 3 shows the most widely used
practice in each category.
• 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 or other forms of scouting.
• Suppression practices involve controlling or reducing
existing pest populations to mitigate crop damage.
Table 3. Top Practice in Pest Management Category, 2015
(% of wheat planted acres)
Prevention: No-till or minimum till
Avoidance: Rotated crops during last three
years
Monitoring: Scouted for weeds
Suppression: Maintained ground covers,
mulches, or other physical barriers

Winter
66

Spring
80

Durum
79

65
84

86
97

88
99

51

68

55

51

Spring
15

99
55

Durum
5

Surveyed States: Acres of Wheat Planted, 2015
Winter
U.S. Total
(thousands of acres)

Table 2. Top Herbicides Applied to Wheat Planted Acres,
2015 Crop Year
Active
Ingredient
Winter
Metsulfuron-methyl
Glyphosate potassium salt
Spring
Fluroxypyr 1-MHE
Bromoxynil octanoate
Durum
Fluroxypyr 1-MHE
Glyphosate potassium salt
a
Expressed in acid equivalent.

% of
Planted
Acres

Avg. Rate
for Year
(lbs/acre)

Total
Applied
(lbs)

16
14

0.005
0.473a

25,000
2,253,000 a

43
35

0.095a
0.157

494,000 a
669,000

53
41

0.098a
0.843a

88,000 a
591,000 a

Pest Management Practices
The survey asked growers to report on the practices
they used to manage pests, defined as weeds, insects,
or diseases. Wheat growers reported practices in four

Colorado
Idaho
Illinois
Kansas
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
South Dakota
Texas
Washington
Total, Surveyed States
(percent of U.S. Total)

Spring

39,461.0
13,247.0
(percent of total)
6.1
1.9
1.4
23.3
11.2
1.9
6.0
19.2
3.8
1.6
50.6
1.3
13.4
1.9
3.6
10.0
15.2
4.2
85.6
(14 states)

91.0
( 4 states)

Durum
1,936.0

32.0
56.3

88.3
(2 states)

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www.nass.usda.gov