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Herbicide Use on Feed Crops

Herbicides are chemicals used to “manipulate or control undesirable vegetation.” They are a type of pesticide which is a broad term that also includes insecticides and fungicides. Herbicides are applied before or during planting to maximize crop productivity.[1]

 

  1. U.S. EPA (2024) Herbicides: Overview. https://www.epa.gov/caddis-vol2/herbicides

There are high levels of concern over the environmental and human health impacts of herbicides, especially the most common herbicides, glyphosate and atrazine.[1-4] Most Americans have glyphosate in their urine.[5] Atrazine is commonly found in U.S. waterways.[6,7]

The EPA’s 2016 risk assessment of atrazine offers lengthy documentation of the widespread damages to aquatic and terrestrial creatures and ecosystems.[8] The report does not venture a guess at why we would accept this level of degradation in order to grow more corn for feed, ethanol, and exports.[9]

Understanding that a large portion of herbicides is used on crops fed to farmed animals – especially corn and soybeans – brings a greater understanding to these issues. A significant share of the health and environmental harms of herbicides can be added to the many costs of industrial animal ag.

 

  1. van Bruggen, A. H., et al., (2018). Environmental and health effects of the herbicide glyphosate. Science of the total environment, 616, 255-268.
  2. Myers, J. P., et al., (2016). Concerns over use of glyphosate-based herbicides and risks associated with exposures: a consensus statement. Environmental Health, 15(1), 1-13.
  3. Stayner, L. T., et al., (2017). Atrazine and nitrate in drinking water and the risk of preterm delivery and low birth weight in four Midwestern states. Environmental research, 152, 294-303. [Many reports such as this investigate the human and animal health implications of atrazine pollution, often revolving around reproductive functions.]
  4. Mikaela Conley (May 4, 2024) Atrazine, an endocrine-disrupting herbicide banned in Europe, is widely used in the U.S., U.S. Right to Know [A recap of many reports that explore atrazine’s impacts on human and animal health] 
  5. CDC (2022) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey: 2013-2014 Data Documentation, Codebook, and Frequencies for Glyphosate (GLYP) and Urine (SSGLYP_H). https://wwwn.cdc.gov/Nchs/Nhanes/2013-2014/SSGLYP_H.htm. [NHANES testing showed 1885 of 2310 subjects had glyphosate “at or above the detection limit.”]
  6. Beaulieu, M., et al., (2020). Predicting atrazine concentrations in waterbodies across the contiguous United States: The importance of land use, hydrology, and water physicochemistry. Limnology and Oceanography, 65(12), 2966-2983. [“Atrazine was detected in 32% of U.S. waterbodies…”]
  7. Baldwin, A. K., et al., (2016). Organic contaminants in Great Lakes tributaries: Prevalence and potential aquatic toxicity. Science of the Total Environment, 554, 42-52. [Atrazine detected in ~20-25% of surface water samples in this USGS study]
  8. Farruggia, F. T., et al., (April 12, 2016). Memorandum: Refined Ecological Risk Assessment for Atrazine, U.S. EPA Office of Pesticide Programs: Washington, DC, Abstract. [“…aquatic plant communities are impacted in many areas where atrazine use is heaviest, and there is potential chronic risk to fish, amphibians, and aquatic invertebrates…there are risk concerns for mammals, birds, reptiles, plants and plant communities across the country… EPA levels of concern for chronic risk are exceeded by as much as 22, 198, and 62 times for birds, mammals, and fish, respectively. …there is potential for chronic risks to amphibians… terrestrial plant biodiversity and communities are likely to be impacted…”]
  9. More than 80% of atrazine is applied to corn crops. See question and answer below.

The EPA notes that “Neither EPA nor any other federal agency has a program devoted specifically to collecting information for the purpose of estimating the overall pesticide market in terms of dollars spent and quantities of active ingredients used on an annual basis.”[1] Improbably, the current 2024 EPA “Herbicides Overview” website page still shows herbicide application figures from the year 2001.[2]

As an experienced researcher in the field confirms, “Accurate, detailed, and up-to-date pesticide use data are not available from any single public source in the US.”[3]

 

  1. Atwood, D. & Paisley-Jones, C. (2017) EPA Pesticides Industry Sales and Usage 2008-2012 Market Estimates, EPA. 1. https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-01/documents/pesticides-industry-sales-usage-2016_0.pdf 
  2. U.S. EPA (2024) Herbicides: Overview. https://www.epa.gov/caddis-vol2/herbicides
  3. Benbrook, C., et al., (2021). Organic farming lessens reliance on pesticides and promotes public health by lowering dietary risks. Agronomy, 11(7), 1266, p. 9.

The USDA provides herbicide usage figures for many crops, including corn and soybeans, evaluating them on a rotating schedule.[1] USGS has provided estimates for specific herbicide usage through 2018 only, although the agency has announced annual pesticide-use estimates from 2018-2022 will be published in 2025.[2] The FAO provides estimates of total use by country but not by crop.[3]

The private site PUDS – The Pesticide Use Data System – is based on USDA data but only up to 2018.[4] The non-profit site Heartland Health Research Alliance (HHRA) also maintains a database up to 2018.[5] The EPA offers sporadic information all of which is now dated.

Therefore, we mostly rely on the USDA’s data and the FAO. All figures, however, should be viewed as broad estimates since comparisons are not necessarily year-to-year, and the info is not all current.

 

  1. USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, NASS – Quick Stats Database. https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/
  2. USGS Pesticide National Synthesis Project (2024) Estimated Annual Agricultural Pesticide Use. https://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/pnsp/usage/maps/index.php [Maps and Graphs]
  3. FAOSTAT Inputs/Pesticides Use/Total Herbicides/United States.
  4. Hygeia Analytics, PUDS (Pesticide Use Data System) https://hygeia-analytics.com/pesticides/usage/puds-the-pesticide-use-data-system/
  5. Heartland Health Research Alliance, Herbicide Use Tables. https://hh-ra.org/herbicide-use-tables/#/metrics1-7

Approximately 894 million pounds of herbicides were applied in the U.S. in 2022.[1,2]

 

  1. Total herbicides used in the U.S. is reported for 2022 as 893,958,907 lbs. [FAOSTAT. Inputs/Pesticides Use/Total Herbicides/United States/2022]
  2. Maggi, F., et al., (2019). PEST-CHEMGRIDS, global gridded maps of the top 20 crop-specific pesticide application rates from 2015 to 2025. Scientific Data, 6(1), 170–20, p. 14. [“Our estimates of the herbicide mass used in each country available in the FAOSTAT in 2015 matched the FAOSTAT data well.”]

Broadly estimated, about half of all herbicides used in the U.S. is applied to corn and soybean crops.[1-3]

The volume on corn is estimated at ~28% of total herbicide volume. Soybean volume is ~23% of total herbicides.

 

  1. All figures in herbicide/pesticide evaluations should be considered broad estimates. For amounts of herbicide use by crop, we use the most current data from the USDA: for corn 2021, and for soybeans 2023. Because the USDA does not provide a figure for total U.S. use, we rely on the FAO’s most recent data for U.S. For that figure, we averaged 2021 and 2022 (the most recent years available).
  2. Total herbicides used on corn in 2021 = 237,818,000 lbs., and total herbicides used on soybeans in 2023 = 196,352,000. [USDA NASS QuickStats, Survey/Environmental/Corn & Soybeans/Herbicide applications in lbs./Total Herbicide use]
  3. Total herbicides used in the U.S. is reported for 2021 as 825,762,097 lbs. and for 2022 as 893,958,907 lbs. for an average of 859,860,502. [FAOSTAT Inputs/Pesticides Use/Total Herbicides/United States/2021 and 2022]  

About 31% of total herbicide usage is applied to that portion of corn and soybean crops going to animal feed.[1-2]

 

  1. For share of total herbicide use in the U.S., see question above.
  2. To calculate the share used for animal feed, we use 64% for corn and 58% for soybeans. See, Share of Corn Crop for Feed and Share of Soybean Crop for Feed.

Along with corn and soybeans, there are many other crops going mostly or partially to animal feed that use additional quantities of herbicides.

Sorghum – About 15.6 million lbs. of herbicides were used on sorghum (2019). Most of the sorghum crop is used for animal feed.[1]

Alfalfa/Hay – Alfalfa is steadily moving to GE production with growing glyphosate usage, estimated at ~9 million pounds in 2014.[2] In 2018, ~15 million lbs. of glyphosate were applied to alfalfa/hay.[3]

Wheat – In 2022, ~27 million lbs. of herbicides were used on wheat.[4] A little more than one-tenth of wheat production is used for animal feed.

Several other top 10 crops are partially used for animal feed, including barley, canola, oats, and cotton, along with others outside of the top 10. Herbicides are used on all of them.

 

  1. Herbicides used on sorghum in 2019 was 15,576,000 lbs. [USDA NASS Quick Stats, Survey/Environmental/Corn & Soybeans/Herbicide applications in lbs./Total Herbicide use] See also, Share of Secondary Crops for Feed
  2. Benbrook, C. M. (2016). Trends in glyphosate herbicide use in the United States and globally. Environmental Sciences Europe, 28(1), 3-, Supplemental Table S16. [Using multiple sources, Benbrook found that as of 2014, about 30% of alfalfa acres were treated with glyphosate, with almost 9 million lbs. applied, increasing steadily each year.]
  3. Based on visual assessment of USGS chart for glyphosate 2018. See: USGS Pesticide National Synthesis Project (2021) Estimated Annual Agricultural Pesticide Use, Glyphosate 2018. [Note: The USDA does not survey hay/alfalfa producers for pesticides used. Approximately 50 million acres of alfalfa/hay are harvested annually, the third largest crop by acreage.]
  4. Amount of herbicides used on wheat in 2022 was ~27.3 million lbs. (Winter wheat = 16,923,000 lbs.; Spring Duram = 1,308,000 lbs.; Spring excl. Duram = 9,096,000 lbs.) [USDA NASS Quick Stats, Survey/Environmental/3 wheat categories/Herbicide applications in lbs./Total Herbicide use] 

The USDA’s data show that herbicide use on corn has increased ~35% from 2014 to 2021. This, despite only a 3% increase in planted acres during that time.

Herbicide use on soybeans has increased ~22% from 2017 to 2023. This despite a decrease of ~7% of planted acres during that time.

 

  1. Herbicide use for Corn and Soybeans is from USDA NASS QuickStats, Survey/Environmental/Corn & Soybeans/Herbicide applications in lbs./Total Herbicide use.
  2. Planted acres for the selected years in the charts above from USDA NASS Acreage Reports, released annually. 

By far, the most common herbicide is glyphosate. About 280 million pounds were applied in 2018, which was about 44% of the total volume of herbicides in that year.[1,2]

The 2nd most common herbicide is atrazine. About 72 million pounds were applied in 2018, approximately 11% of the total.[3,4]

 

  1. U.S. EPA (April 18, 2019) Memorandum: Glyphosate: Response to Comments, Usage, and Benefits (PC Codes: 103601 103604, 103605, 103607, 103608, 103613, 417300). [“About 280 million pounds of glyphosate are applied to an average of 298 million acres of crop land annually.” 280/632.6 = 44%. FAOSTAT for total herbicide usage for 2018 = 632.6 million lbs.]
  2. USGS, Pesticide National Synthesis Project (2021) Estimated Annual Agricultural Pesticide Use, Glyphosate 2018. https://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/pnsp/usage/maps/show_map.php?year=2019&map=GLYPHOSATE&hilo=L [Chart estimates glyphosate at about 275 – 280 million pounds for 2018]
  3. USGS, Pesticide National Synthesis Project (2021) Estimated Annual Agricultural Pesticide Use, Atrazine 2018. [Chart estimates atrazine usage at approximately 72 million pounds for 2018. 72/632.6 = 11%.]
  4. Beaulieu, M., et al., (2020). Predicting atrazine concentrations in waterbodies across the contiguous United States: The importance of land use, hydrology, and water physicochemistry. Limnology and Oceanography, 65(12), 2966-2983. [“Atrazine, an herbicide, is the second most used pesticide in the United States…”]

The most commonly applied herbicide is glyphosate. Its use on corn and soybeans is broadly estimated to be ~60-70% of all glyphosate usage as of 2018.[1-4]

 

  1. Amount of glyphosate used on corn in 2018 was 71,918,850 lbs.; glyphosate on soybeans in 2018 was 99,620,708 lbs. == total 171,539,558 lbs. [Hygeia Analytics, PUDS (Pesticide Use Data System), dataset: Individual Analytes/Corn or Soybeans/Herbicides/Glyphosate/National/2018. Calculation: 171.5 / 280 = 61%]
  2. USGS Pesticide National Synthesis Project (2021) Estimated Annual Agricultural Pesticide Use, Glyphosate 2018. [Chart estimates glyphosate at about 275 million pounds for 2018. Corn and soybean usage makes up ~70% of total crop usage.] 
  3. U.S. EPA (Revised May 19, 2020) Memorandum: Glyphosate: Response to Comments, Usage, and Benefits (PC Codes: 103601 103604, 103605, 103607, 103608, 103613, 417300) [“About 280 million pounds of glyphosate are applied to an average of 298 million acres of crop land annually.”]
  4. Note: all estimates are based on agricultural usage and do not include non-agricultural usages such as residential, parks, golf courses, etc. As a broad estimate, the non-agricultural use of glyphosate is about 10% of the agricultural usage. See, Benbrook, C. M. (2016). Trends in glyphosate herbicide use in the United States and globally. Environmental Sciences Europe, 28, 1-15. Table 1 (non-agricultural = 9.6% in 2014)

Genetically engineered (GE) seeds and crops were introduced in the mid-1990s to tolerate specific herbicides, especially glyphosate. In 2024, corn and soybeans are almost exclusively grown as GE crops.[1] “In the U.S., no pesticide has come remotely close to such intensive and widespread use.”[2]

Corn and soybeans are mostly “Round-up Ready” glyphosate-tolerant. Companies sell GE seeds along with the pesticides they are created to tolerate.[3]

 

  1. USDA Economic Research Service (2024) Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in the U.S.
    https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/adoption-of-genetically-engineered-crops-in-the-u-s/ [Corn is 94% GE, with 90% HT or herbicide tolerant (2024). Soy is 96% GE, with 96% HT (2024)]
  2. Benbrook, C. M. (2016). Trends in glyphosate herbicide use in the United States and globally. Environmental Sciences Europe, 28(1), Abstract.
  3. Lisa Bunin (2018) The Food Print of Crop Production, FoodPrint, GRACE Communications Foundation, p. 14. https://foodprint.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2020_11_10_FP_Crops_Report-Final.pdf

More than 80% of all atrazine usage (~60 million pounds) was applied to corn in 2018.[1-3]

Atrazine was effectively banned by the EU in 2004 and is currently banned in more than 40 countries.[4-6]

 

  1. USGS, Pesticide National Synthesis Project (2021) Estimated Annual Agricultural Pesticide Use, Atrazine 2018. [Visual estimate of USGS chart shows total atrazine usage at approximately 70 million pounds for 2018. Corn usage estimated at about 62 million pounds. 62 / 70 = 89%]
  2. U.S. EPA (October 21, 2020) Executive Summary “Atrazine Executive Summary for Biological Evaluation,” Final National Level Listed Species Biological Evaluation for Atrazine, Endangered Species. https://www.epa.gov/endangered-species/final-national-level-listed-species-biological-evaluation-atrazine#executive-summary [EPA estimates that from 2013 through 2017, average atrazine usage was 72 million pounds]
  3. Amount of atrazine used on corn in 2018 was 60,375,932 lbs. [Hygeia Analytics, PUDS (Pesticide Use Data System), dataset: Individual Analytes/Corn/Herbicides/Atrazine/National/2018. (60.4 / 70 = ~86%)]
  4. Legislation.gov.uk (2004) Commission Decision concerning the non-inclusion of atrazine, 2004/248/EC. [“Measures should be taken to ensure that existing authorisations for plant protection products containing atrazine are withdrawn within a prescribed period and are not renewed and that no new authorisations for such products are granted.”] 
  5. Bethsass, J., & Colangelo, A. (2006). European Union bans atrazine, while the United States negotiates continued use. International journal of occupational and environmental health, 12(3), 260-267.
  6. Pesticide Action Network International (2022) PAN International Consolidated List of Banned Pesticides. 

Fertilizers & Pesticide