Preliminary estimates of annual agricultural pesticide use for counties of the conterminous United States, 2013

Summary

This report provides preliminary estimates of annual agricultural use of 387 pesticide compounds in counties of the conterminous United States in 2013, compiled by means of methods described in Thelin and Stone (2013) and Baker and Stone (2015). U.S. Department of Agriculture county-level data for harvested-crop acreage were used in conjunction with proprietary Crop Reporting District-level pesticide-use data to estimate county-level pesticide use. Where Crop Reporting District data were not available or were incomplete, estimated pesticide use values were calculated with two different methods, resulting in a low and a high estimate based on different assumptions about missing survey data (Thelin and Stone, 2013). Preliminary estimates in this report are expected to be revised upon availability of updated crop acreages in the 2017 Agricultural Census, to be published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2019. Estimates of annual agricultural pesticide use are provided as downloadable, tab-delimited files, which are organized by compound, year, state Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, county Federal Information Processing Standard code, and amount in kilograms (kg). The files, listed below, are a continuation of the 1992–2009 and 2008–2012 pesticide-use estimates reported by Stone (2013) and Baker and Stone (2015), respectively:

High estimates of county pesticide use, arranged by pesticide name:

Table 1.    1-Methyl Cyclopropene through Chlorantraniliprole
Table 2.    Chlorethoxyfos through Diflufenzopyr
Table 3.    Dimethenamid through Gibberellic Acid
Table 4.    Glufosinate through Metiram
Table 5.    Metolachlor through Propazine
Table 6.    Propiconazole through Triasulfuron
Table 7.    Tribenuron Methyl through Zoxamide

Low estimates of county pesticide use, arranged by pesticide name:

Table 8.    1-Methyl Cyclopropene through Chlorantraniliprole
Table 9.    Chlorethoxyfos through Diflufenzopyr
Table 10.  Dimethenamid through Gibberellic Acid
Table 11.  Glufosinate through Metiram
Table 12.  Metolachlor through Propazine
Table 13.  Propiconazole through Triasulfuron
Table 14.  Tribenuron Methyl through Zoxamide

References Cited

Baker, N.T., and Stone, W.W., 2015, Estimated annual agricultural pesticide use for counties of the conterminous United States, 2008–12: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 907, 9 p., accessed July, 12, 2015, at http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ds907.

Stone, W.W., 2013, Estimated annual agricultural pesticide use for counties of the conterminous United States, 1992–2009: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 752, 1 p., 14 tables

Thelin, G.P., and Stone, W.W., 2013, Estimation of annual agricultural pesticide use for counties of the conterminous United States,
1992–2009: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2013–5009, 54 p.