US Home & Garden Pesticides Market Report

Demand for home and garden pesticides is forecast to grow 2.8% per year to $3.2 billion in 2028. Following several years of volatility - arising from COVID-era spikes in gardening participation, supply chain challenges, destocking, and inflation - it is expected that the consumer pesticides market will return to growth more in line with the historical periods.

Other trends will also be important to growth going forward, including increasing concerns surrounding the health and environmental impacts of pesticides, which will encourage the use of higher value products such as biopesticides, and the introduction of more effective products.

Retaining Gardeners - From Casual to Serious - Will Boost Gains

The pandemic is no longer a driving reason for spending time at home and/or in a garden, so pesticides suppliers must make efforts to retain as many of their pandemic peak users as possible. Those who worked from home were more likely to notice insects simply by virtue of spending more time there, and those who took up gardening became aware of outdoor pests. Opportunities exist for products that are easy to use (even when time is short) and/or increase personal comfort at home and during outdoor activities.

Consumers Continue to Look for Safer and Higher Performance Pesticides

A vast majority of consumers want pesticides that effectively control or eliminate pests, but they also worry about the safety of such products in relation to themselves, their pets, and the environment. As a result, pesticide manufacturers spend significant time and research dollars developing solutions to those concerns. Biopesticides and other active ingredients that are considered safer will continue to gain market share through 2028, with the best prospects for those that demonstrate provable efficacy and harm reduction.

Glyphosate Will See Use Even After Removal from Consumer Formulations of Roundup

Following concerns over the environmental and health impact of glyphosate, Bayer removed it from consumer formulations of Roundup in 2023 in the US. This decision had a significant impact on glyphosate demand, which in 2023 was less than half the levels in 2021. However, demand will remain steady going forward as other companies continue to use glyphosate in some herbicides. Despite the array of concerns surrounding this active ingredient, some consumers still prefer to use glyphosate due to its efficacy against a wide array of weeds, including those that are hard to remove with other solutions.

Historical Market Trends

The US pesticide market overall can be volatile, although much of that volatility is attributable to the large agricultural sector. In the home and garden segment, pesticide demand tends to be more stable, although it is still subject to fluctuations in weather, demographics, consumer spending, and residential building activity.

• The overall market is mature and relatively slow growing in volume terms, with price changes due to product mix creating many of the longer term market trends.
• Greater awareness of environmental and health hazards has historically been one of the strongest drivers of demand for safer products, leading to a shift in product mix.

Specific factors causing year-to-year changes in home and garden pesticide demand include:

• the health of the US economy and levels of disposable income
• levels of new residential building construction
• average lot size and landscaping trends
• consumer preferences regarding do-it-yourself (DIY) versus professional lawn care services
• the popularity of fruit and vegetable gardening
• concerns about disease transmission via insects such as mosquitoes or ticks
• weather patterns
• the popularity of nonchemical pesticide alternatives

Formulated Pesticide Market Overview

International Activity & Foreign Trade

Global demand for formulated pesticides overall was estimated at over $100 billion in 2023, with the vast majority being used in agricultural applications.

• Growth is strongest in developing markets like India where pesticide use quadrupled between 2008 and 2019.
• Going forward, value gains will be driven by changes in the product mix that favor more expensive and sophisticated products; these can often be applied in lower doses and pose less of a threat to human and environmental health. Additionally, climate change will drive increasing pesticide use. For example, elevated temperatures cause increased volatility, requiring greater applications to achieve an effective dose.

The home and garden market accounts for a larger share of pesticide demand in the US than in most other countries, primarily due to the lawn care segment. Maintained lawns are a much more important element of home life in the US than nearly anywhere else in the world. Household insecticide use is more widespread, as the need for protection from infestations and insect-borne diseases is universal.

Foreign trade comprises an important part of the US pesticide industry, at both the active ingredient and formulated product levels:

• Several of the leading suppliers of active ingredients for pesticides - including Corteva and several key off-patent producers - are based in the US, as are numerous leading suppliers of formulated home and garden products.
• The US is a significant net exporter of pricier formulated pesticides, reflecting the wide range of high-quality products that have been developed to serve the local market.
• In 2022, the US was the third largest exporter of pesticide active ingredients, behind China and India. Although the US will continue to be a net exporter of pesticide active ingredients, imports are expected to account for a growing share of demand. Formulators are increasingly importing off-patent active ingredients, and active ingredient producers - such as Bayer and BASF (both based in Germany) - will remain major participants in the US market.

Active Ingredient Trends

New Active Ingredient Development

The development and introduction of new pesticide active ingredients is hindered by high product development and regulatory compliance costs; producers continue to search for improved formulations to address concerns about the impact of conventional pesticide actives on human health and the environment. Examples of new active ingredients that have recently been introduced or have the potential to enter the US market include:

• spidoxamat, a ketoenol insecticide suitable for soybeans, fruits, and vegetables
• fluazaindolizine, which can be used to control nematodes on vegetables and some fruits (such as oranges, peaches, almonds, and grapes), was registered in September 2023
• cyclobutrifluruam, which can be used to control nematode infestations
• alphachloralose, which is widely used in rodenticides in the EU and was registered by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in November 2019. The entry of alphachloralose products in the US market will pave the way for tightened restrictions on anticoagulant rodenticides, which have been targeted by environmental groups due to their secondary effects on predator animals.
• nootkatone, which was approved for use in insecticides in August 2020; development as an insecticide was spearheaded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and partly motivated by its limited environmental impact and lack of toxicity for humans.
• tetraniliprole - an insecticide designed to control a wide variety of pests on pome fruit, stone fruit, tree nuts, fruiting vegetables, and other plants - was registered in March 2023
• sheep fat, which can be used as an animal repellent

Product development costs for many active ingredients can be substantial. For example, in 2023, research and development costs totaled 8% of sales of Bayer’s Crop Science segment. FMC’s research and development expenses comprised 7% of the company’s sales in 2023.

Report Details

This report covers the US market for home and garden pesticides, which includes pesticides used in residential settings by nonprofessional pesticide applicators. Service revenues and sales of pesticides to professional users are excluded from the scope of this study. Also excluded are alternative products such as traps, electronic repellents, and beneficial organisms.

Data is presented for 2013, 2018, 2023, 2028, and 2033 for pesticide products in US dollars, and for active ingredients in pounds. Annual data for 2020 to 2027 is also presented.

Products include:

• insecticides (lawn and garden insecticides, household insect controls and insect repellents, personal insect repellents)
• herbicides (selective, non-selective, pre-emergent, post-emergent)
• fungicides
• rodenticides, animal repellents, and other pesticides (e.g., slimicides, nematicides, algaecides, slug and snail controls)

Applications include:

• household (insect control, insect repellents, and other household uses)
• lawn and garden

Demand is also segmented by formulation:

• liquids
• aerosols
• granules
• powders and dusts
• other formulation (e.g., gels, pastes, solid forms such as blocks and bars)

In addition, home and garden pesticide retail sales are analyzed with segments including:

• home centers
• mass merchandisers
• garden centers
• internet and mail order
• other retailers (e.g., hardware stores, feed and seed stores, drug stores, grocery stores, convenience stores)