On about 39 percent of the acreage in survey fields, farmers kept field edges tilled, mowed, burned or chopped to help control weeds, insects or both pests. Of those surveyed 39 percent cleaned their tillage and harvesting equipment, mainly to get rid of weed seeds. Adjusting row spacing, plant density or planting date for weed or insect control was utilized on only 5-6 percent of the survey acres. Around 29 percent of the surveyed acres were treated by alternating pesticides to help control weeds, insects or both. About 4 percent used a consultant and less than 1 percent relied on a dealer for scouting.
Crop rotation can reduce both the use of pesticides and the risk of weed resistance to herbicides.
It can also improve yields 10-15 percent when rotating between cereals and legumes. When continuous cropping is the best use of a field, a herbicide rotation can also help reduce the use of atrazine. Insects Scouting for insects on survey fields was done by nearly 90 percent of corn growers and about 82 percent of sorghum farmers. Beneficial insects were considered in pesticide selection by just over 25 percent of corn growers and about 20 percent of sorghum producers on the survey fields. An average of 13 percent of both corn and sorghum farmers got rid of weeds in order to destroy habitat for egg-laying insects.