At a minimum, a comprehensive and effective use reporting program would require that business and governmental pesticide users report the following:

• Product name and US EPA registration number. Pesticides can be reported by active ingredients(s), product name, and/or EPA registration number. Requiring all of these items is clearly optimal from the standpoint of completeness.

• Identification of the reporting entity and applicator. An identification number would enable easy tracking of reports filed. The identity of the applicator is also essential to the regulatory agency for monitoring compliance and conducting error checks. This information is also useful to citizens wishing to document their exposures from neighboring properties. As a publicly available data point, however, applicator identity is a lightening rod for opposition.

• Total amount of product applied. Amount can be reported as total weight (ounces, pounds, or tons) or volume of a product.

• Size of area treated, in acres or square feet. Size of area treated is essential for understanding the concentrations, and therefore the effects, of pesticides released into the environment. Together with amount of pesticide used, the size of area enables one to calculate the rate of application. Without the size of area treated, data on use can be very misleading because application rates vary widely. For example, some products are used at only an ounce per acre, while others are applied at rates of 10 or 20 pounds per acre. Looking only at total pounds can distort the picture of pesticide use.

• Location of application. Site specificity is one of the key benefits that a state use reporting program offers over the more general, aggregated estimates of use now available. Ideally, a use reporting program should aim for maximum specificity in order to be able to construct exposure pictures for individuals, to trace and prevent water contamination, and to generate application histories for pest management research.


For an application made to farmland or forestland, location should ideally be reported as township, range, and section (as is done in California) and as tax lot.

For all other applications, location should include at least zip code, municipality, county, and township section-range and as applicable, street address, waterway, or right of way.  Zip codes are not geographically based, change over time, and are not comparable with other geographically based locations; therefore, they alone are not sufficient.
 

• Timing of application. The timing of an application can affect pesticide runoff, leaching, and drift. Knowing the timing of application can enhance research in these areas and facilitate investigations into pesticide-related illnesses (particularly for involuntary exposures in schools and workplaces). All applicators must keep track of the date for their own purposes (calculating reentry intervals, days to harvest, and planting lead times), and thus the information is readily available in their records. Denoting time of application by month is less informative than the exact date of application.

• Crop/site type. To facilitate research and analysis, reports should include a simple code to indicate the crop, stored product, or site type (e.g., school, roadside, residence) to which the pesticide was applied. This information is fundamental to assessing the efficacy of pesticides, to identifying the percent of crop treated for dietary risk assessments, and to highlighting use scenarios for risk reduction.

• Target pest organism. Data on target pests enables researchers to monitor infestations, resurgence, and emergence of secondary pests. Understanding why a pesticide is being used is crucial for evaluating pesticide effectiveness and pest resistance, which are key to improving pest management research.

• Application method. Different application methods have different exposure potential, efficiency, and efficacy. Shifts in application method (such as trends away from aerial application or toward spot treatments) can indicate risk reduction.

• Weather conditions. Knowing the weather conditions when an application is made is essential for documenting potential pesticide drift (i.e., migration off-site) and for understanding the fate of pesticides in the environment.