Herbicides are chemicals used for killing weeds or inhibiting plant growth.
Insecticides are chemicals or mixtures of chemicals intended to prevent or destroy any insects which may destroy crops or gardens. In addition to the economic cost of the pesticides, the amount of pesticides produced is also very large. During this same period, there was moderately steady growth in herbicide production, from 587 million pounds in 1983 to 754 million pounds in 1993. Lastly, the number of pounds of fungicides produced increased greatly from 43 million pounds in 1983 to 78 million pounds in 1993. The number of pounds of pesticides used by the agricultural sector has remained relatively constant from 1980 to 1992.