NASS Highlights 2018 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey - Peanuts

NASS Highlights

•

May 2019

No. 2019-2

2018 AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL USE SURVEY

AGRICULTURAL
Peanuts USE
CHEMICAL
Six states . . .

The 2018 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey of peanut producers collected
data about fertilizer and pesticide use as well as pest management practices
in growing peanuts. NASS conducted the survey in six states that accounted
for 93 percent of the 1.4 million acres planted to peanuts in the United States
in 2018: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas
(Fig. 1 and box
on p. 2).
Fig. 1. States in the 2018 Peanut Chemical Use Survey

AGRICULTURAL
CHEMICAL USE

. . . accounted for 93 percent of
U.S. acres planted to peanuts in
2018.

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 peanut
chemical use survey in the fall of 2018.

Access the Data
Access 2018 and earlier peanut
chemical use data through the Quick
Stats database (https://quickstats.
nass.usda.gov/).
• In Program, select “Survey”
• In Sector, select “Environmental”
• In Group, select “Field Crops”
• In Commodity, select “Peanuts”
• 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 2018 Corn,
Peanut, and Soybean heading. For
methodology information, click
“Methodology.”

Data are for
the 2018 crop
year, the oneyear period
beginning after
the 2017 harvest
and ending after
the 2018 harvest.

Fertilizer Use
Fertilizer refers to a soil-enriching input that contains one or more plant
nutrients. For the 2018 crop year, farmers applied nitrogen and phosphate
to 32 percent of acres planted to peanuts, at an average rate of 32 and 38
pounds per acre, respectively. They applied potash and sulfur to 33 and
12 percent of
Table 1. Fertilizer Applied to Peanut Planted Acres, 2018 Crop Year
peanut planted
acres, at an
% of
Average
Total
Acres with
Rate
Applied
average rate
Nutrienta
(lbs/acre)
(mil lbs)
of 68 and14
Nitrogen
(N)
32
32
13.5
pounds per acre,
Phosphate (P2O5)
32
38
16.1
respectively.
(Table 1)
Potash (K2O)
33
68
30.2

United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service

Sulfur (S)

12

14

2.1

Acres with multiple nutrients are counted in each category.

a

www.nass.usda.gov

Pesticide Use
The pesticide active ingredients used on peanuts are
classified 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 94 percent of
planted acres. Fungicides and insecticides were applied
to 88 and 37 percent of planted acres, respectively.
(Fig. 2)
Among herbicides, flumioxazin was the most widely
used active ingredient (applied to 65 percent of planted
acres), followed by pendimethalin and s-metolachlor
(each applied to 34 percent). (Table 2)
Fig. 2. Pesticides Applied to Peanut Planted Acres, 2018 Crop Year
(% of planted acres)
Herbicides

94

Fungicides

88

Insecticides
Other

37
8

Table 2. Top Herbicides Applied to Peanut Planted Acres,
2018 Crop Year
% of
Acres with
Ingredientª

Average
Rate
(lbs/acre)

Total
Applied
(lbs)

Flumioxazin

65

0.104

90,000

Pendimethalin

34

0.831

376,000

S-metolachlor

34

1.336

598,000

2;4-D; dimethylamine salt

31

0.354

146,000b

Imazapic-ammonium
31
0.070
a
Acres with multiple ingredients are counted in each category.
b
Expressed in acid equivalent.

29,000

Active
Ingredient

b

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

• 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.
The most widely used pest prevention practice
in growing peanuts was cleaning equipment and
implements after field work to reduce the spread of
pests, used on 67 percent of planted acres. The top
avoidance practice was rotating crops (84 percent).
Scouting for weeds was the most widely used
monitoring practice (96 percent). Maintaining ground
covers, mulches or other physical barriers and using
pesticides with different mechanisms of action were the
top suppression practices (each with 42 percent).
(Table 3)
Table 3. Top Practice in Pest Management Category, 2018
(% of peanut planted acres)
Prevention: Cleaned equipment and implements after field
work

67

Avoidance: Rotated crops during past three years

84

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

96

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

42a

Used pesticides with different mechanisms of action

42a

The same acres may have both practices.

a

Surveyed States: Acres of Peanuts Planted, 2018
U.S. Total
Georgia
Alabama
Florida
Texas
North Carolina
South Carolina
Total, Surveyed States

thousands of acres
1,425.5

% of U.S.
100

665.0
165.0
155.0
155.0
102.0
87.0
1,329.0

46.7
11.6
10.9
10.9
7.2
6.1
93.2

Numbers may not add due to rounding.

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