NASS Highlights 2021 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey - Cotton

NASS Highlights

•

May 2022

No. 2022-2

2021 AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL USE SURVEY

AGRICULTURAL
Cotton USE
CHEMICAL
Nine states. . .

The 2021 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey of cotton producers collected data
about fertilizer and pesticide use as well as pest management practices for
cotton production. NASS conducted the survey in nine states that accounted
for 92.1% of the 11.2 million acres planted to cotton in the United States
in 2021: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina,
Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. (Fig. 1)

AGRICULTURAL
CHEMICAL USE

. . . accounted for 92.1% of U.S.
acres planted to cotton in 2021.

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 cotton
chemical use survey in the fall of 2021.

The data are
for the 2021
crop year, the
one-year period
beginning after
the 2020 harvest
and ending with
the 2021 harvest.
(Table 4)

Fig. 1. States in the 2021 Cotton Chemical Use Survey

Fertilizer Use

Access the Data
Access 2021 and earlier cotton
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 “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 2021
Corn, Cotton, and Rice heading.
For methodology information, click
“Methodology.”

Fertilizer refers to a soil-enriching input that contains one or more plant
nutrients. For the 2021 crop year, farmers applied nitrogen to 71% of planted
acres, at an average rate of 95 pounds per acre, for a total of 695.1 million
pounds. They
applied phosphate Table 1. Fertilizer Applied to Cotton Planted Acres, 2021 Crop Year
to 46% of planted
% of
Average
Total
acres, potash to
Acres with
Rate
Applied
37%, and sulfur
Nutrient ª
(lbs/acre)
(mil lbs)
to 36% of planted
Nitrogen (N)
71
95
695.1
acres. (Table 1)
Phosphate (P O )
46
51
240.0

United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service

2 5

a

Potash (K2O)

37

77

293.3

Sulfer (S)

36

16

57.3

Acres with multiple nutrients are counted in each category.

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 96% of planted acres. Other chemicals were applied
to 68% of planted acres, insecticides to 39%. (Fig. 2)

The most widely used prevention practice in growing
cotton was cleaning equipment and implements after
field work, used on 73% of planted acres. The top
avoidance practice was rotating crops (65%). Scouting
for weeds was the most widely used monitoring practice
(94%) and using pesticides with different mechanisms of
action was the top suppression practice (45%). (Table 3)

Among herbicides, two different forms of glyphosate
were the most widely applied active ingredients.
(Table 2).
Fig. 2. Pesticides Applied to Cotton Planted Acres, 2021 Crop Year
(% of planted acres)
Herbicides

96

Other chemicals

Table 3. Top Practice in Pest Management Category, 2021
(% of cotton planted acres)

68

Insecticides
Fungicides

• 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.

39
1

Table 2. Top Herbicides Applied to Cotton Planted Acres,
2021 Crop Year

73

Avoidance: Rotated crops during last three years

65

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

94

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

45

% of
Acres with
Ingredientª

Average
Rate
(lbs/acre)

Glyphosate isopropylamine salt

45

1.384b

6.4b

Glyphosate potassium salt

38

1.486b

5.8b

Paraquat

27

0.617

1.7

U.S. Total

Dicamba diglycolamine salt

25

0.926b

2.4b

Diuron

22

0.370

0.9

Texas
Georgia
Oklahoma
Arkansas
Mississippi
Alabama
North Carolina
Missouri
Tennessee
Total, Surveyed States

Active
Ingredient

a

Acres with multiple ingredients are counted in each category.

b

Expressed in acid equivalent.

Total
Applied
(mil lbs)

Prevention: Cleaned equipment and implements after field work

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

Table 4.U.S. and Surveyed States:
Acres of Cotton Planted, 2021
Thousands of Acres
11,219.5

% of U.S.
100

6,367
1,170
495
480
450
405
375
315
275
10,332

56.7
10.4
4.4
4.3
4.0
3.6
3.3
2.8
2.5
92.1

Numbers may not add due to rounding.

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