New Pesticide Sales Data Report

CORRECTION

The article "Pesticides Sales Estimates May be Tripled," from the BPC Reports published in the June-August issue of the MOF&G newspaper, contained an error in the analysis of the comparison between the new, year 2000 sales report and the previous, 1995 sales report . The error resulted in an underestimation of 1995 sales. In the 1995 sales report, sulfuric acid was reported in gallons, not pounds, of active ingredient, in a chart captioned "pounds, active ingredient." The BPC staff, as noted in a footnote to the report, did not have a reliable conversion factor at the time. The new, 2000 report used a conversion factor of 14.72 pounds active ingredient per gallon of sulfuric acid.

When that conversion factor is applied, the rounded figures for retail sales (in pounds) from restricted-use pesticide dealers, are:

Year	All Pesticides	Sulfuric Acid	Pesticides Other Than Sulfuric Acid
1995	3,900,000	1,988,000	1,912,000
1997	4,800,000	3,188,000	1,612,000
2000	3,500,000	867,000	2,633,000

These figures represent major sales for forestry and agriculture. Gary Fish of the BPC staff estimates that the portion of sales made for applications to forests consists of 50,000 to 60,000 pounds of glyphosate.

Sales of sulfuric acid, a desiccant used to kill potato vines before harvest, account for much of the fluctuation among years. However, sales of other pesticides still increased in 2000: by 63% over 1997 and by 38% over 1995. An unascertainable part of that increase may be attributable to inclusion of additional dealers and more ornamental and turf sales that in previous years. As noted in the original MOF&G analysis, BPC director Bob Batteese acknowledged that the actual total pesticide sales figure for all users including homeowners for 2000 is probably substantially higher than the retail sales figure. Due to the complex and redundant reporting system, it is not possible to know what proportion of the additional wholesale and user data bases should be added to obtain a reliable total estimate. The BPC maintains, however, that the retail sales figures are the most reliable basis for year-to-year comparisons in sales to the agriculture and forestry sector.

The MOF&G’s original analysis was reviewed in advance of publication by BPC staff. Regrettably, neither we nor they initially detected the problem attributable to the sulfuric acid sales. Our thanks to BPC Certification and Training Specialist Gary Fish for discovering this problem.