Pesticides in 1958 L. S. HITCHNER, N a t i o n a l Agricultural Chemicals Association, W a s h i n g t o n , D. C.
Ο ALES VOLUME of pesticide chemi
cals continued to rise in 1958, al though more slowly than in 1956 or 1957. Well over 70% of the in dustry reported sales that equaled or exceeded 1957 levels. The general business recession and adverse weather conditions in many parts of the United States made significant changes in use patterns by areas, once used as the basis for market evaluation. How ever, more favorable growing con ditions, following an extremely wet spring, caused insect populations to reach new highs on crops not nor mally subject to severe damage. The continued rains in other areas also increased plant disease infection. Certain crops, such as cotton, generally consuming large quanti ties of pesticidal chemicals, did not need protection from insect and disease damage in as great a volume as last year, sales in that area reach ing only about 80 to 8 5 % of last year's volume. Other crops, notably fruits and vegetables, required more chemical protection because of the extreme rainfall during the early growing season and the high incidence of disease requiring protection by fungi cides. Aided by the abundant rainfall, weeds of all types flourished and growers intent on making a good crop used an appreciably larger volume of herbicides than in 1957, both in pre-emergence applications and during the growth period.
Broad area pest control methods to control widespread infestations of grasshoppers in the Southwest and imported fire ant in the southern states accounted for a sizable volume of sales, offsetting to a degree the lowered sales volume in cottongrowing sections. Sales of all pesticide chemicals will approximate $265,000,000 this year at the manufacturers' level; however, in arriving at this figure, it is necessary to take into considera tion the value of goods sold for nonagricultural uses as well as those in the established market for chemicals to protect foot! and fiber crops. Significant amounts of pesticides moved into areas of public health, roadside maintenance, and forest management during 1958. For example, during the first 6 months of the year the World Health Organization had been sup plied over 33,000,000 pounds of D D T by United States producers, for use in the world-wide malaria eradication program sponsored by the W H O , in which over 60 nations participated. In addition, funds ap propriated by the Federal Govern ment, amounting to some $19,600,000, will be spent for insecticide purchases in further efforts to wipe out several deadly diseases of m a n that arc carried or caused by insects. The new interstate highway sys tem now under construction will add at least another million acres of rights-of-way to the existing 2,000,000 acres now being maintained.
Crop dusting assumes increasing importance when high productions a r e sought 62 A
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Over 100,000 miles of highway rights-of-way in practically every state were sprayed with herbicides this year to remove visual obstruc tions which have been reported to have caused at least 9 % of highway fatalities, and to aid in lowering the discomfort of hay fever and asthma caused by pollen from rankgrowing roadside weeds. Insect and disease damage to standing timber in the United States is now some nine times greater than the damage caused by forest fires. This damage is estimated to be equivalent to 7 billion board feet of timber. Efficient forest manage ment has recognized the value of pesticides in increasing marketable yields of top quality timber. This has resulted in a significant increase in sales of various pesticide materials in this market area. The delayed and wet spring season caused major changes in the pro duction schedule of most manu facturers and formulators, who made a concerted effort to balance pro duction with sales inventories. For the most part this has been success ful, as over one third of the industry is reported to have been able to re duce inventories appreciably com pared to the end of the 1957 season. Recent statistics indicate that only about 1 7 % of the long-range po tential for pesticides, including new uses, is now being supplied by the industry. Fully realizing this fact, the industry has spent some $20,000,000 this year in research and develop ment of new basic products and ex pects to increase these expenditures in future years. However, the cost of developing, producing, and distributing pesti cides, like other chemicals, is in creasing each year—and profit mar gins are decreasing in about the same proportion. Consequently, the in dustry is placing increased impor tance on marketing and distribution patterns and on more efficient plant operations. Careful future plan ning along these lines will show an even steeper growth curve for the pesticides industry than in the past few years.
