Pasture Herbicide Use to Increase
While major crops such as corn and soybeans receive regular herbicide treatment on nearly 100 percent of planted acres, weed control has not been
widely practiced on America's rangelands and pasturelands. But the steady encroachment of invasive weed and brush species has finally necessitated action, and it has created an important growth market for suppliers of chemical herbicide products, according to a report soon to be published by Kline & Company. Kline's new study, THE U.S. INDUSTRIAL VEGETATION MANAGEMENT MARKET FOR PESTICIDES AND FERTILIZERS 2004, estimates that the market for chemical herbicides used on rangeland and grazing pastures expanded by more than 30 percent from 2001 to 2003. While the study identifies a number of factors contributing to this tremendous increase, most are direy related to a greater awareness of the invasive weed and brush problem that has been worsening for several years. "Both federal and private landowners have seen this problem coming for some time but never really addressed it because herbicide use on rangeland and pastures didn't seem cost-effective," says Dennis Fugate, manager of Kline's Agribusiness Practice. "Now some areas in the West have a serious problem. Overgrazing and extended drought have created conditions that favor some invasive species, and it could take a lot of time, effort, and expense to reclaim these areas for grazing."
Cornell University's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology has estimated that invasive plants like leafy spurge and salt cedar cost the U.S. economy an estimated $33 billion a year. According to the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), infestations of invasive and noxious plant species on U.S. rangeland and pastures are expected to increase at the rate of 20 million acres per year, reaching about 140 million acres by 2010. To combat this incursion, federal and state organizations are introducing programs that feature chemical control as a key element. Executive Order 13112, "Invasive Species," was introduced in 1999 and mandates programs to prevent further introduction of invasives. The U.S. Forest Service also introduced a major initiative in March 2004 to prevent the further spread of new invasive weeds and to contain existing populations. With federal programs like these, as well as some state and local funding for private landowners, demand continues to rise for selective herbicides that could be applied to grazing and hay production areas. For more information on this study, go to http://www.klinegroup.com/Y518d.htm. (Kline & Company, 6/17/04).
