NASS Highlights 2015 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey - Oats

NASS Highlights

•

May 2016

No. 2016-3

2015 AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL USE SURVEY

AGRICULTURAL
Oats
CHEMICAL
USE
About the Survey

The 2015 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey collected data about fertilizer and
pesticide use as well as pest management practices in growing oats. NASS
conducted the survey among oat producers in 13 states that accounted for
77 percent of the 3.1 million acres planted to oats in the United States in
2015: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, North
Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin (Fig. 1).

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 oat 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.

Fig. 1. States in the 2015 Oats Chemical Use Survey

Access the Data
Access 2015 chemical use data, as well
as results from prior surveys of oats
chemical use, through
the Quick Stats 2.0 database
(http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov).
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•
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•

In Program, select “Survey”
In Sector, select “Environmental”
In Group, select “Field Crops”
In Commodity, select “Oats”
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 76 percent of planted acres, at an
average rate of 51 pounds per acre, for a total of 92.5 million pounds. They
applied phosphate to 62 percent of oat planted acres and potash to
40 percent of
Table 1. Fertilizer Applied to Oat 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)

76

51

92.5

Phosphate (P2O5)

62

33

49.6

Potash (K2O)

40

36

34.2

www.nass.usda.gov

Pesticide Use
The pesticide active ingredients used on oats 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 51 percent of planted acres. Fungicides and
insecticides were applied to 9 and 4 percent of planted
acres, respectively. (Fig. 2)
Among herbicides, 2,4-D, dimethylamine salt was
the most widely used active ingredient (applied to
15 percent of planted acres), followed by glyphosate
isopropylamine salt (11 percent). (Table 2)
Fig. 2. Pesticides Applied to Oat Planted Acres, 2015 Crop Year
(% of planted acres)
Herbicides

51
9

Fungicides
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 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 pest prevention practice in
growing oats was no-till or minimum till, used on 48
percent of planted acres. The top avoidance practice was
rotating crops (77 percent). Scouting for weeds was the
most widely used monitoring practice (76 percent), and
maintaining ground covers, mulches, or other physical
barriers was the top suppression practice (44 percent).
(Table 3)
The same practices were either the first or second most
widely used practice in a similar survey in 2005.
Table 3. Top Practice in Pest Management Category, 2015
(% of oat planted acres)

4

Table 2. Top Herbicides Applied to Oat Planted Acres,
2015 Crop Year

Prevention: Used no-till or minimum till

48

Avoidance: Rotated crops during last three years

77

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

76

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

44

% of
Planted
Acres

Avg. Rate
for Yeara
(lbs/acre)

Total
Applieda
(lbs)

2,4-D, dimethylamine salt

15

0.473

166,000

Glyphosate isopropylamine salt

11

0.776

197,000

2,4-D, 2-EHE

7

0.528

83,000

U.S. Total

MCPA, dimethylamine salt

7

0.373

58,000

Clopyralid monoethanolamine salt

7

0.128

21,000

Fluroxypyr 1-MHE

7

0.104

17,000

Texas
South Dakota
Minnesota
Wisconsin
North Dakota
Nebraska
Iowa
Kansas
Pennsylvania
Michigan
New York
Ohio
Illinois
Total, Surveyed States

Active
Ingredient

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,
or diseases. Oat growers reported practices in four
categories: prevention, avoidance, monitoring, and
suppression (PAMS).

Surveyed States: Acres of Oats Planted, 2015
thousands of acres
3,088

% of U.S.
100

520
325
280
280
275
135
125
95
95
75
70
70
40
2,385

16.8
10.5
9.1
9.1
8.9
4.4
4.0
3.1
3.1
2.4
2.3
2.3
1.3
77.2

Numbers may not add due to rounding.

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