The cost to farmers if Illinois banned glyphosate

Published 12:30 am Saturday, July 25, 2026

A new analysis from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Illinois Soybean Association finds that Illinois corn and soybean farmers could lose up to $609 million per year, representing a 3.6% revenue loss, if the state banned the weedkiller glyphosate.

The estimate represents a realistic scenario in which farmers would replace glyphosate with more expensive and slightly less effective herbicide products and accounts for modest yield losses. But the study’s authors say any yield loss would be hard to bear.

“I don’t know of any farmer who wants to take a revenue loss by any stretch of the imagination, and especially when we’ve got such tight margins right now,” said study co-author Aaron Hager, professor and faculty Extension specialist in the Department of Crop Sciences. “Profits have been projected to be negative again this year for a lot of Illinois farmers, many of whom may be on the verge of not being able to survive.”

The researchers became curious about economic impacts after glyphosate bans were introduced in past Illinois legislative sessions. Considering increasing public attention and court cases related to glyphosate, they recognized that another ban could be proposed at any time. Meanwhile, multiple other pesticide bans were proposed in Illinois earlier this year. The researchers say their analysis methods could be applied to other chemicals.

The results indicate that Illinois farmers could lose $300 million to $609 million per year, representing a 1.8% to 3.6% revenue loss.

The analysis paints a picture of economic hardship for Illinois farmers, but the researchers acknowledge that it does not represent every consequence of a hypothetical glyphosate ban. For example, it doesn’t capture the potential human health and environmental impacts of shelving glyphosate, nor indirect costs related to using other crop protection tools.

“Our analysis is somewhat partial in the sense that it is only looking at one aspect — the economic impacts on the farmer. A complete assessment would also need to consider effects on the agrifood supply chain, public tax revenues, human health, and the environment before weighing the overall cost and benefits of a glyphosate ban,” lead author Sandy Dall’erba said.

Glyphosate is a key element in conservation tillage, used as the burndown herbicide to remove standing vegetation before planting. Without it, fuel costs — and their associated greenhouse gas emissions — likely would rise under a hypothetical glyphosate ban.

“Glyphosate allows farmers to adopt conservation practices like no-till on a scale that you can’t accomplish in other ways,” said study co-author Corey Lacey, environmental policy manager at the Illinois Soybean Association.

“A glyphosate ban would likely result in more conventional tillage, which is going to have not just a conservation cost in terms of soil health and emissions, but a literal fuel cost since farmers would also be driving the tractor more in the field. That would lead to increased input costs that we didn’t estimate here.”

Italian ryegrass

Italian ryegrass is another new weed to watch in Missouri.

Also called annual ryegrass, Australian ryegrass, or Australian rye, the grass commonly is used for erosion control, as a quick-growing cover crop, and as forage.

It’s becoming hard to kill and increasingly resistant to herbicides, University of Missouri Extension state weed scientist Kevin Bradley said.

Bradley and colleagues in Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas are warning producers about the resistance to products like glyphosate and Group 1 herbicides, including clethodim and quizalofop.

It can become invasive, especially in corn, soybean, winter wheat, and other small-grain crops. It can reduce corn yields by 65%, cotton yields by 85%, and soybean yields by 37% in field trials.

While similar to perennial ryegrass, this species is an annual with seed that can germinate at multiple time points in the spring. It grows vigorously in winter and early spring, becoming a fierce competitor for nutrients, water, and sunlight.

Recommended management strategies include crop and herbicide rotation, narrow row spacing to allow crops to develop canopies, and fall tillage followed by early burndown with at least two effective postemergence herbicide modes of action.