Fungicides Use in a Lower Price Environment

The advisability of applying fungicides may change this year with lower corn and soybean prices and given recent increases in spending on pesticides (farmdoc daily, April 30, 2024). While the cost of applying fungicides is known, their application introduces two uncertainties: 1) the yield response from using fungicides, and 2) the additional drying cost associated with higher moisture due to fungicide use. These issues are explored in this paper. Overall, average yield responses from fungicide yield trials do not suggest that fungicide use is economical at likely commodity price levels for this year.