The Lowdown on Roundup Part III: Glyphosate Use, 1970-2010 Sources: United States Our project team combed through a mountain of EPA documents and herbicide use data to create these timelines, and we are sharing it all with you! Reference List (PDF): http://cehn-healthykids.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/07/the-lowdownon-roundup-references.pdf Online Bibliography for Part I: http://cehn-healthykids.org/bibliographytag/lowdown-part3/
KEY: 1970s, Stacked Slide (1/2): Roundup Hits the Market Monsanto patents and registers the first glyphosate herbicide, Roundup, in 1974 (Franz, 1974). Use rises slowly in the 1970s, reaching 3.4 million pounds applied for agricultural uses in 1979. Use Trends 1970s, Next Slide (2/2):
1979: Total Use 5 million lbs 1980s, Stacked Slide (1/2): Slow Steady Growth 1981: Farmers apply 4 million pounds of glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs). 1989 : Over 7 million pounds applied, an increase of 75% from 1981. Compare this modest growth in the 1980s to the 846% increase coming in the 1990s. 1980s, Next Slide (2/2): Use Trends
1986: Total Use 10 million lbs Total ag + non-ag glyphosate use in the U.S. reaches 10 million pounds: 62% agricultural 34% nonagricultural 1987: Number 17 on EPA's Top 25 List 1990s: GE Crops Drive Up Use 1996: First Roundup Ready (RR) crops genetically engineered to resist glyphosate are planted. Also 1996 the first weed resistant to glyphosate confirmed in Australia (see http://www.weedscience.org).
1990s, First Subtopic (%): A closer look at agricultural glyphosate use in the U.S. shows two jumps in use: First, beginning in 1991, increases triggered by expiration of a key glyphosate patent, and Second, starting in 1996, GBHs sprayed on herbicide-resistant crops. 1990s, First Subtopic, Animation 1 (zooms to): 1974-1989: U.S. ag use totaled 71.5 million pounds. A tiny fraction (2%) of total use from 1974-2016. 1990s, First Subtopic, Animation 2 (fades in new chart and text): 1974-1989: U.S. ag use totaled 71.5 million pounds. A tiny fraction (2%) of total use from 1974-2016. 1990-1999: Farmers applied over 290 million lbs -- more than triple what was used in the first 15 years. 1990s use accounts for 8.2% of total use from 1974-2016. Together, 1974-1999 accounts for about 10% of total use.
1990s, Second Subtopic (spray boom): 1992: Total Use 23 million lbs Total use doubled since 1986 to 23 million lbs. 1995: Number 7 on EPA's Top 25 List
1996: TotaI Use 48 million lbs Total glyphosate uses rises to 48,300,000 pounds. Use has doubled since 1992, a period of only 4 years. 1996, Subtopic: The GE crops that are first planted this year allow farmers to spray glyphosate over growing crops. This increases the number of applications per year and the time period during which herbicides are applied. Ag use up an average of 3.1 million pounds per year. Ag use up an average of 14 million pounds per year, an increase of over 4-fold. 1996: Over 0.1 lb Applied Per Acre This year, enough glyphosate is applied to spray an average of 0.1 pound of glyphosate on all ~300 million acres of harvested cropland in the U.S.
2000s: Glyphosate Hits #1 Glyphosate becomes the most-used herbicide in the country. Monsanto and other companies continue to patent and register new glyphosate herbicides and uses. 2000s, First Subtopic (%): GE-RR corn, soybean, and cotton are widely adopted by farmers. Glyphosate use skyrockets. 2000-2009 -- Farmers apply over 1,476 million pounds of glyphosate, representing 41.7% of all the glyphosate-based herbicide applied from 1974-2016. 2000s, Second Subtopic (crop duster): Use Trends
2000: Total Use 98 million lbs 2001: Number 1 on EPA's Top 25 List Glyphosate tops the EPA Ranking of the Top 25 Pesticide Active Ingredients, and remains #1 to this day. In addition, glyphosate will increases its lead over #2 atrazine. 2001: 87.5 million pounds of glyphosate applied, just 10 million more than atrazine. 2011: Glyphosate use exceeds atrazine by 3 times. 2005: 0.5 lb Applied Per Acre
2007: Total Use 206 million lbs 2010s: Biggest Decade Yet (and It's Not Over!) 2001-2016 -- U.S. farmers apply over 1,705 million pounds of glyphosate. 1.7 billion pounds -- 48% of total U.S. glyphosate use from 1974-2016. 20-25 years -- the latency period for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, the cancer most likely linked to Roundup use and exposures. 2010s, Subtopic: Use Trends
2010: Over 0.75 lbs Applied Per Acre Since 2010, farmers apply enough glyphosate to spray over 0.8 pounds on every acre of cultivated cropland. Global Use Global glyphosate use shows similar trends. Global Use, First Subtopic (backpack sprayer): Agricultural Use Global glyphosate use begins rapid upward trend in 1996, driven by the planting of GE-RR crops.
Global Use, Second Subtopic (terraces): Use Per Hectare 1994-1995: Average use rate is 0.94 kg/hectare (0.84 lbs per acre). 2010-2014: Average global use rate is 2.01 kg of per hectare of farmland (1.79 lbs per acre), doubling in just a decade.