Amounts of pesticides produced

Successful pesticides are produced in massive quantities. It has been estimated that between 1943 and 1974 the world production of DDT alone reached 2.8 x 109 kg (Woodwell et al., 1971). DDT was the first efficient synthetic pesticide and had all the good properties for an insecticide any person at that time could imagine. It is extremely stable, and only one treatment may suffice for good control of insect pests. It was cheap to produce and had 

DDT is therefore not very important as a commercial product anymore. There are no patent protections. Because of environmental problems, its usefulness is limited. Furthermore, insect resistance to DDT would in any case have restricted its usefulness. 

When measured in dollars, the herbicides dominate the market as shown by the table  

Herbicides are applied to 92 to 97% of acreage planted with corn, cotton, soybeans, and citrus three quarters of vegetable acreage and two thirds of the acreage planted with apples and other fruit. 

The Nordic countries have fewer insect pests in agriculture and very few human or veterinary diseases that are transmitted by insects. There are restrictions against the use of aircraft for insecticide spraying in forestry and agriculture. Insecticides are therefore, by volume, much less significant than the herbicides. 

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