The U.S. Potato Industry’s 2022 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey
The U.S. potato industry’s 2022 Agricultural Chemical Use Survey gathered information on fertilizer and pesticide usage as well as pest control methods used in potato production.
Nine states – Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin – account for more than 92% of the 364,621 hectares that would be planted to potatoes in the United States in 2022 when the poll was performed.
An input that enriches the soil and contains one or more plant nutrients is referred to as fertilizer. In the crop year of 2022, farmers applied nitrogen to 99% of the planted hectares at an average rate of 199,5 kilograms per hectare, for a total of 66,678 tons. They used phosphate on 97%, potash on 88%, and sulfur on 79% of the acres planted with potatoes.
This study divides the active ingredients of pesticides used on potatoes into four categories: herbicides (which target weeds), insecticides (which target insects), fungicides (which target fungal diseases), and other chemicals (which target all other pests and other materials, including superfluous crop foliage). 98% of the planted hectares received an application of fungicides, the most common type. Insecticides and herbicides were used on 87% and 72%, respectively, of the planted hectares.
Chlorothalonil and azoxystrobin, which were employed on 64% and 55% of planted acres, respectively, were the most frequently used active components in fungicides. Metribuzin was the herbicide that was used the most (63% of planted acres).
“The survey analysts asked growers to report on the practices they used to manage pests, defined as weeds, insects, or diseases. Potato growers reported practices in four categories: – prevention practices involve actions to keep a pest population from infesting a crop or field; – avoidance practices use cultural measures to mitigate or eliminate the detrimental effects of pests; – monitoring practices observe or detect pests by systematic sampling, counting, or other forms of scouting; – suppression practices involve controlling or reducing existing pest populations to mitigate crop damage,” according to a recent NASS release.
On 89% of the planted hectares, treating seed for pest or disease control after purchase and cleaning equipment and implements after field labor were the two preventative techniques most frequently utilized in potato farming. Crop rotation was the main avoidance technique (99%). The top monitoring practice (99%) was looking for illnesses, while the top suppression practice (79%) was using pesticides with various modes of action.
The information pertains to the crop year 2022, which is the 12 months starting after the 2021 harvest and concluding with the 2022 harvest.
