USDA: Pesticide quality has improved over time

Over time, the quality of agricultural pesticides has improved. Modern pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides) have higher potency, persistence, toxicity, and absorption rates compared with products available in the past. Researchers with USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) track the quantities of pesticides used in agriculture production and adjust them for quality changes as part of calculating the productivity of the industry.

This chart updates one found in the ERS report Measurement of Output, Inputs, and Total Factor Productivity in U.S. Agricultural Productivity Accounts, published in August 2024.

Using 1948 as a starting point, the quantities of quality-adjusted and non-adjusted pesticides used were 15 times and 8 times, respectively, their 1948 levels. Pesticide use over time has increased partially because of a relative fall in pesticide prices compared to other inputs that prompted producers to increase pesticide use, and a change in the mix of crops, particularly the substantial increase in corn and soybean acreage that require more pesticides.

Other factors that have driven fluctuations in pesticide use include the widespread use of genetically engineered crops that are insect-resistant and herbicide-tolerant; the eradication of the boll weevil, which helped reduce pesticide use in cotton-growing areas; and increased awareness of environmental impacts of pesticide use. For more on U.S. agricultural productivity trends, see the ERS topic page Agricultural Research and Productivity and the ERS data product Agricultural Productivity in the U.S.