US demand for home and garden pesticides to rise 3.1% annually through 2020

According to the report “US Home & Garden Pesticide Industry”, demand for home and garden pesticides in the US is projected to rise 3.1 percent per year to $2.4 billion in 2020. In the lawn and garden segment, gains will be supported by ongoing growth in new housing completions, and by increasing consumer spending on and interest in lawn care and gardening. Gains will be further buoyed by the ever-expanding availability of ready-to-use products in convenient packaging. In household applications, rising consumer awareness of pest-borne diseases such as West Nile and Zika viruses will promote rising demand for insect repellents.

Additionally, some regions of the US are seeing populations of bedbugs and other household pests that are increasingly resistant to older insecticide formulations, creating a need for new, more aggressive formulations that also meet consumer safety expectations. However, gains in pesticide demand in both household and garden applications will be restrained by the general maturity of the US market for consumer pesticides. Also, despite the increasing availability of safer pesticide products, many consumers remain wary of the potential hazards of pesticide use.

Environmentally friendly products to fare well

Products with reduced negative health and environmental impacts and products that emphasize ease-of-use will show the best growth prospects going forward. Biopesticide demand will continue to grow faster than demand for conventional pesticides. Likewise, concentrated products that must be diluted before use will lose market share to ready-to-use formulations and other products that emphasize convenience.

Safer packaging expected for insecticides

Insecticides account for the majority of pesticides used in the home and garden market, and are expected to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Insecticides' prominence is largely due to their use in household applications, where insect controls and insect repellents are by far the most common pesticides in use. Insecticides also represent a sizable share of the lawn and garden segments, although herbicides are the larger product category in these applications. The best opportunities for growth in insecticide demand are expected for products with improved safety features such as less toxic concentrations and formulations and packaging to reduce user exposure to the pesticide.

Of particular concern is the potential harm of insecticides on beneficial species such as honeybees. Herbicides will remain the largest product category in lawn and garden applications. Gains will be fastest for products used in gardening activities, including ornamental and edible gardening. The greater variety of ready-to-use products, combination herbicide and fertilizer formulations, and products tailored for specific types of gardens will support growth going forward. Convenient products such as herbicides that can be attached directly to a hose will also promote gains in lawn and turf care applications. Herbicides for usage on sidewalks and driveways are projected to show the slowest growth due to the overall maturity of this segment.