After a big tropical storm, U.S. farmers end up using about ten times their normal amount of pesticides for years.
March 26, 2026
Original Paper
Blowin' in the Wind? Adapting to Atlantic Basin Tropical Cyclones with Pesticides ⋆
SSRN · 6346998
The Takeaway
Most people assume storms simply destroy crops or wash chemicals away; instead, the environmental shock triggers a massive surge in specific pathogens and pests. This creates a long-term 'chemical tail' where adaptation to climate change paradoxically leads to a localized explosion in pesticide use.
From the abstract
Using U.S. county-level data, we uncover a relatively overlooked coping strategy employed by farmers in response to cyclones: selective increase of pesticide application. By constructing a novel dataset spanning 25 years of tropical cyclone activity, pesticide use, and agricultural output, our difference-in-differences design reveals that farmers respond to cyclone shocks by applying more pesticides to protect their crops. On average, a typical U.S. farm applies approximately 2,150–2,250 kg more