NASS Highlights 2020 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey - Soybeans

NASS Highlights

•

May 2021

No. 2021-1

2020 AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL USE SURVEY

AGRICULTURAL
SoybeansUSE
CHEMICAL
Nineteen states . . .

The 2020 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey of soybean producers collected
data about fertilizer and pesticide use as well as pest management practices
for soybean production. NASS conducted the survey in 19 states that
accounted for 96.32% of the 83.08 million acres planted to soybeans in the
United States in 2020: 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)
Fig. 1. States in the 2020 Soybean Chemical Use Survey
Soybean planted
acreage totals are
for the 2020 crop
year, the oneyear period
beginning after
the 2019 harvest
and ending with
the 2020 harvest.
(Table 4)

AGRICULTURAL
CHEMICAL USE

. . . accounted for 96.32% of U.S.
acres planted to soybeans in
2020.

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 soybean
chemical use survey in the fall of 2020.

Access the Data
Access 2020 soybean chemical use
data as well as results from prior (or
earlier) soybean chemical use surveys
in the Quick Stats database
(https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/).
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•

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 2020 Corn,
Peanut, and Soybean heading. For
methodology information, click
“Methodology.”

Fertilizer Use
Fertilizer refers to a soil-enriching input that contains one or more plant
nutrients. Nitrogen, phosphate, potash, and sulfur were the most widely
used fertilizer materials on soybeans. For the 2020 crop year, farmers applied
potash to 44% of planted acres, at an average rate of 89 pounds per ace, for a
total of 3,150.5
million pounds.
Table 1. Fertilizer Applied to Soybean Planted Acres, 2020 Crop Year
Farmers applied
% of
Average
Total
phosphate to
Acres with
Rate
Applied
Nutrienta
(lbs/acre)
(mil lbs)
42% of planted
Potash (K2O)
44
89
3,150.5
acres and
nitrogen to 32%
Phosphate (P2O5)
42
55
1,878.3
of planted acres.
Nitrogen (N)
32
17
449.9
(Table 1)

United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service

Sulfur (S)

13

13

137.8

Acres with multiple nutrients are counted in each category.

a

www.nass.usda.gov

Pesticide Use

categories: prevention, avoidance, monitoring, and
suppression.

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 98% of planted acres. Fungicides were applied to 22%
of planted acres, insecticides to 20%. (Fig. 2)
Among herbicides, glyphosate potassium salt was the
most widely used active ingredient (applied to 40% of
planted acres), followed by glyphosate isopropylamine
salt (38%) (Table 2). These were also the most widely
applied herbicides in the 2018 survey of soybean
producers.
Fig. 2. Pesticides Applied to Soybean Planted Acres, 2020 Crop Year
(% of planted acres)
Herbicides

98

Fungicides

22

Insecticides
Other

20

Table 3 shows the top practice in each category. For
example, the most widely used prevention practice in
growing soybeans in 2020 was no till or minimum till.
Table 3. Top Practice in Pest Management Category, 2020
(% of soybean planted acres)
Prevention: No till or minimum till

69

Avoidance: Rotated crops during last three years

87

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

94

Suppression: Used pesticides with different mechanisms of action to
keep pests from becoming resistant to pesticides

53

Table 4. U.S. and Surveyed States: Acres of Soybeans Planted,
2020

2

U.S. Total

Table 2. Top Herbicides Applied to Soybean Planted Acres,
2020 Crop Year
% of
Acres with
Ingredientª

Average
Rate
(lbs/acre)

Total
Applied
(mil lbs)

Glyphosate potassium salt

40

1.556b

50.2b

Glyphosate isopropylamine salt

38

1.079 b

32.6 b

Sulfentrazone

21

0.20

3.4

S-Metolachlor

19

1.307

20.1

Dicamba, diglycolamine salt
18
0.560 b
a
Acres with multiple ingredients are counted in each category.
b
Expressed in acid equivalent.

8.3b

Active
Ingredient

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

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

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

Millions of Acres
83.08

% of U.S.
100

10.30
9.40
7.40
5.85
5.75
5.70
5.20
4.95
4.90
4.75
2.82
2.20
2.09
2.00
1.85
1.65
1.60
1.05
0.57
80.03

12.40
11.31
8.91
7.04
6.92
6.86
6.26
5.96
5.90
5.72
3.39
2.65
2.52
2.41
2.23
1.99
1.93
1.26
0.69
96.32

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