2006-2007 Pesticide Market Estimates: Usage (Page 2)

3.4 Amount of Pesticides Used in the United States: Conventional

Table 3.4 shows that the amount of conventional pesticide used in 2006 and 2007 totaled 821 and 857 million pounds of active ingredient, respectively. This category of pesticide use was third highest among all pesticide groups in the United States after chlorine/hypochlorites and wood preservatives. Table 3.4 shows the breakout of this use by pesticide type and market sector. Pesticide types in this group include herbicides, plant growth regulators (PGRs), insecticides, miticides, fungicides, nematicides, fumigants, and others. The amount used in the agricultural sector accounted for the majority of the total amount used in 2006 and 2007, with the two non-agricultural sectors (industry/commercial/government and home & garden) cumulatively accounting for approximately one-fifth of the total use in each year (see Table 3.4). The amount used in the agriculture sector also accounted for the majority of the total amount used by pesticide type—70% or more of the total amount used of each type, except for fungicides in 2006 (63%) and 2007 (63%). Figure 3.3 graphs the distribution of use by pesticide type and sector in 2007. The estimated use levels rely on the estimated amount used and changes in amount used of conventional pesticides by sector and type derived from public and proprietary EPA databases.

3.5  Share of U.S. Amount of Conventional Pesticide Active Ingredient Used in the Agricultural and Non-Agricultural Market Sectors

Table 3.5 shows the agricultural and non-agricultural market share of total conventional pesticides consumed in 2006 and 2007. The agricultural sector accounts for nearly 80% of the total amount of conventional pesticides used in both years. See Table 5.9 in Section 5.2 for historical data covering the years 1970 through 2007.

3.6  Most Commonly Used Conventional Pesticide Active Ingredients in the U.S. Agricultural Market Sector

Table 3.6 shows the 25 most commonly used conventional pesticide active ingredients in the agricultural
sector in 2007 and selected earlier years. Glyphosate was the most used active ingredient in 2007 (180 million
to 185 million pounds used). It has been the most used active ingredient in agriculture since 2001. Thirteen
of the top 25 active ingredients used in the agricultural sector are herbicides; 3 are fungicides; 3 are insecticides;
5 are fumigants; and 1 is a plant growth regulator. The rankings rely on the estimated pounds of conventional
pesticides used in the agricultural sector, taken from public and proprietary databases.