Herbicides Usage in Mechanized Agriculture

The application of herbicides in agriculture crops has been practiced for a long time. The utilization of herbicides resulting significant increasement in crop production.

Herbicides account for about half the money spent worldwide on substance for plant protection.

Weed control in agriculture is necessary not only to decrease harvest losses by weed competition, but also because weeds hinder the operation of harvesting machinery; fields free of weeds are a prerequisite for a mechanized agriculture.

There was an estimated about 10% of US agriculture products is lost because of weeds. Effective weed control usually results from a combination of cultural, tillage and chemical practices.

Herbicides in combination with other practices are often more cost effective, provide improved weed control over a long period, reduce the risk of poor weed, and result in higher profits.

One uses as herbicides various substances that block vital reactions of plant metabolism and have a low toxicity for animals and therefore for humans.

Some herbicides are taken up only by the roots and other by the leaves. For example, to keep railway tracks free from weeds non-selective herbicides are employed, which destroyed all vegetation.

The high cost of labor is one of the main reasons for using herbicides in agriculture. It is cheaper and faster to keep a field free of weeds by using herbicides rather than manual labor.

In intensive cereal crop production systems, the use of herbicides is more cost effective than the use of human labor, because the seasonality of weeding often creates labor scarcity so that wage rates for weeding are higher than those for other crop management operations.

The use of herbicides has also gotten a boost from the general use in farm wages due to overall economic growth and the growth in nonfarm employment opportunity, particularly in Asia.
Herbicides Usage in Mechanized Agriculture