根据研究和跟踪咨询公司 Phillips McDougall 的数据，更高的草甘膦价格、更高的草甘膦需求、有利的作物价格和更多的杀菌剂使用都帮助美国市场在 2008 年扩大到十多年来作物保护价值的最大增长。
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高作物价格推动了产量需求，使杀菌剂应用对种植者有利可图，而三层玉米的采用推动了对草甘膦的需求，草甘膦的价格也很优惠。
No-till agriculture is expected to expand in the US on the back of glyphosate and other non-selective herbicides, says Leonard Gianessi, director of the Crop Protection Research Institute in Washington, DC. In addition, penetration of post-patent products is expected to gain market share in the US as “there are no major pests in the US that can’t be controlled by a generic” now that azoxystrobin’s patent has expired, he says.
美国的总播种面积保持不变，但农民转而种植大豆而不是玉米，以减少对肥料的需求，尤其是去年价格昂贵的氮肥。根据 Phillips McDougall 合伙人马修菲利普斯的说法，这些因素的综合影响使得种植大豆比玉米更有利可图，尽管乙醇需求量很大，这是多年来的第一次。
“In 2008 we believe that the US market increased by 8% in value, the first significant increase in the value of the market since the introduction of GM crops in 1996/1997,” he says.
美国农民需要获得农药许可
美国种植者可能会更难使用作物保护产品。直到今年早些时候，美国农民才需要申请批准才能在他们的农作物上使用农作物杀虫剂。美国环境保护署 (EPA) 在 1972 年的《清洁水法》中授予农民豁免权，因此无需向各自的州申请许可，这可能很耗时，而且农民很难及时处理意外但必要的农药应用。
第六巡回上诉法院（俄亥俄州）的一个三人小组在环保倡导者提出的申诉中废除了该点源污染豁免。如果该规则生效，农民将被迫获得在水体上、上方或附近使用杀虫剂的许可。截至发稿时，种植者团体和作物保护倡导者提交的请愿书仍在审理中。
CropLife America, farm groups, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Senators Tom Harkin and Saxby Chambliss, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, criticized the decision and asked EPA to challenge it. The EPA declined to challenge the decision, but the agency put a stay on the rule’s implementation until April 2011.
“We are being forced into a double regulatory situation,” CropLife America CEO Jay Vroom told 农用化学品国际. “Our products are registered for use by EPA by the Office of Pesticide Programs. And now, even though Congress since the very earliest days of the Clean Water Act has always provided an agricultural exception for non-point source pollution of regulation of agricultural activities, this court has decided to also require farmers to be regulated as point-source polluters, so it’s like double jeopardy at its most basic unconstitutional nature.”
新规定可以通过两种方式减少作物保护产品的消费：首先，种植者可能决定放弃酌情使用杀虫剂以避免申请许可证的麻烦。二是病虫害的发生往往出其不意。如果不立即施用杀虫剂，农民可能会错过最佳药效窗口，或者更糟的是，在等待批准期间可能会遭受作物损失。
“This ruling very much has the potential for creating so much additional liability concern for farmers as pesticide users — as well as administrative headaches — that it may well impact the use of our products that otherwise are approved and safe,” Vroom says.