Introduction to Maine Pesticide Use Surveys

     As a participating state in the National Agricultural Pesticide Impact Assessment Program, Maine responded to over 100 survey requests between 1988 and 1999.  The complexity and depth of individual surveys varied.  Some were relatively simple requests for information about the use of one chemical on one commodity.   Others were surveys that asked for information on all pesticides of a certain type (e.g. fungicides) on all commodities in Maine, including application rates and frequency for each product on each commodity.  Some surveys only took one or two phone calls to knowledgeable persons, other surveys took weeks or months of work to gather the needed information.

       Listings of Maine responses to national NAPIAP survey requests are available at 1996 Maine Pesticide Surveys  and 1985--1994 Maine Pesticide Surveys.  Two crop specific surveys, 1997 Lowbush Blueberry pesticide survey and 1998 Potato pesticide survey , were also conducted for NAPIAP.

     The Maine Board of Pesticides Control does regular surveys of pesticide sales in Maine.  However, interpretation of those data is confounded by issues such as 50 lb. bags of weed 'n feed lawn products (fertilizer and herbicide combination) being counted as 50 lbs. of pesticide sales when in fact only a small portion is actually pesticide.  The most recent reliable accounting of sales of individual pesticide active ingredients covers agricultural products only and is from 1997:  Maine Agricultural Pesticide Sales 1997