NASS Highlights 2019 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey - Sorghum

NASS Highlights

•

May 2020

No. 2020-1

2019 AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL USE SURVEY

AGRICULTURAL
SorghumUSE
CHEMICAL
Six states . . .

The 2019 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey of sorghum producers collected
data about fertilizer and pesticide use as well as pest management practices
in growing sorghum. NASS conducted the survey among sorghum producers
in 6 states that together accounted for 100 percent of the 5.3 million acres
planted to sorghum in the United States in 2019: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska,
Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas. (Fig. 1 and box on p. 2)

AGRICULTURAL
CHEMICAL USE

. . . accounted for 100 percent of
U.S. acres planted to sorghum
in 2019.

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 field crop
agricultural chemical use surveys in
cooperation with USDA’s Economic
Research Service as part of the
Agricultural Resource Management
Survey. NASS conducted the sorghum
chemical use survey in the fall of 2019.

Access the Data
Access 2019 and earlier sorghum
chemical use data through the
Quick Stats database
(http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov).
• In Program, select “Survey”
• In Sector, select “Environmental”
• In Group, select “Field Crops”
• In Commodity, select “Sorghum”
• 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 2019 Barley,
Cotton, Sorghum, and Wheat heading.
For methodology information, click
“Methodology.”

The data are for
the 2019 crop
year, the one-year
period beginning
after the 2018
harvest and
ending after the
2019 harvest.

Fig. 1. States in the 2019 Sorghum Chemical Use Survey

Fertilizer Use
Fertilizer refers to a soil-enriching input that contains one or more plant
nutrients. For the 2019 crop year, farmers applied nitrogen to 89 percent of
planted acres, at an average rate of 77 pounds per acre, for a total of 360.3
million pounds.
They applied
Table 1. Fertilizer Applied to Sorghum Planted Acres, 2019 Crop Year
phosphate to
% of
Avg. Rate
Total
58 percent of
Acres with
for Year
Applied
Nutrient ª
(lbs/acre)
(mil lbs)
sorghum planted
Nitrogen (N)
89
77
360.3
acres, at an
average rate of 25
Phosphate (P2O5)
58
25
76.7
pounds per acre.
Potash (K2O)
10
14
7.7
(Table 1)

United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service

Sulfer (S)

a

21

7

7.7

Acres with multiple nutrients are counted in each category.

www.nass.usda.gov

Pesticide Use

four categories: prevention, avoidance, monitoring, and
suppression (PAMS).

The pesticide active ingredients used on sorghum 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, with
applications to 89 percent of planted acres. Insecticides
were applied to 9 percent of planted acres. (Fig. 2)
Among herbicides, atrazine was the most widely used
active ingredient (applied to 71 percent of planted
acres), followed by glyphosate isopropylamine salt (45
percent of planted acres). S-metolachlor was applied to
36 percent of the planted acres. (Table 2)
Fig. 2. Pesticides Applied to Sorghum Planted Acres, 2019 Crop Year
(% of planted acres)
Herbicides

89

Other Chemicals

Fungicides

3
0

Table 2. Top Herbicides Applied to Sorghum Planted Acres,
2019 Crop Year
% of
Acres with
Ingredient ª

Avg. Rate
for Year
(lbs/acre)

Atrazine

71

1.144

4.3

Glyphosate isopropylamine salt

45

1.030

2.4 b

S-Metolachlor

36

1.268

2.4

Dicamba dimethylamine salt

26

0.471

0.6 b

Glyphosate potassium salt

24

1.399

1.8 b

Active
Ingredient

The most widely used prevention practice in growing
sorghum was no-till or minimum till, used on 66 percent
of planted acres. The top avoidance practice was
rotating crops (81 percent). Scouting for weeds was the
most widely used monitoring practice (91 percent), and
maintaining ground cover, mulching, or using other
physical barriers was the top suppression practice (55
percent). (Table 3)
Table 3. Top Practice in Pest Management Category, 2019
(% of sorghum planted acres)

9

Insecticides

• 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
systematic sampling, counting, or other forms of
scouting.
• Suppression practices involve controlling or reducing
existing pest populations to mitigate crop damage.

Prevention: Used no-till or minimum till

66

Avoidance: Rotated crops during past three years

81

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

91

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

55

Total
Applied
(mil lbs)

Surveyed States: Acres of Sorghum Planted, 2019

a

Acres with multiple ingredients are counted in each category.

U.S. Total

b

Expressed in acid equivalent.

Kansas
Texas
Colorado
Oklahoma
South Dakota
Nebraska
Total, Surveyed States

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

thousands of acres
5,265

% of U.S.
100

2,600
1,550
365
300
250
200
5,265

49.4
29.4
6.9
5.7
4.8
3.8
100.0

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www.nass.usda.gov