Excerpt from A Survey of Extent and Cost of Weed Control and Specific Weed Problems

Agronomic cr0ps, including forage and turf crops grown for seed but not including pastures and rangelands, were grown and harvested on approximately 207 million acres in 1962. From 1951 through 1960, annual losses from weeds due to reduced yield and quality and other causes averaged in agronomic crops. In addition, the annual cost of cultural and chemical methods of controlling weeds in agronomic crops averaged Thus, the losses caused by weeds and the cost of weed control in 12 major agronomic crops, plus 25 forage and turf crops grown for seed, amounted to approximately $3 billion annually. The tremendous losses and enormous cost of controlling weeds in agronomic cr0ps are the motivating factors in the unprecedented farmer acceptance of improved chemical methods of weed control.

The survey data reported in tables 1 through 5 show that farmers are rapidly accepting the use of herbicides for weed control in agronomic crops. The major agronomic crops included in the survey in 1962 were corn, cotton, soybeans, small grains (including wheat, oats, barley, and rye), rice, peanuts, sugar beets, sorghum, and forage and turf crops grown for seed.

In 1962, acres, or 28 percent of the harvested acreage of agronomic crops, were treated with herbicides. The harvested acreage treated with herbicides varied from 10 percent of the soybean acreage to 53 percent of the rice acreage. Additional information on the use of herbicides, including the acreage treated, the per-acre cost, the effectiveness of herbicides, and the ratio of acreage treated by farmers and custom operators, is presented in tables 6 through 30. These data indi cate important trends in herbicide usage in 1962.

In 1962, farmers invested in preemergence herbicides for weed con trol in agronomic crops. They also invested for postemergence herbi cides. Total expenditures for herbicides for weed control in agronomic cr0ps were The average cost per acre for preemergence treatments was The average per acre cost for postemergence treatments was Farmers using their own equipment treated 77 percent of the total acreage, and custom operators treated 23 percent.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.