An important criterion for a grower is profit or return on investment in technology. Herbicides are profitable where labor is scarce or expensive. They may be advantageous also where labor is plentiful and cheap. Herbicides control weeds in crop rows where cultivation is not possible. They can be used in places where other methods don’t work. Preemergence herbicides provide early-season weed control when competition results in the greatest yield reduction and when other methods are less efficient or impossible to use.

Selective herbicides reduce the need for tillage and control of weeds in crop rows where tillage is not effective and may be harmful to roots. Herbicides reduce destruction of soil structure by decreasing the need for tillage. Erosion in orchards and other perennial crops can be prevented by maintenance of a sod cover with selective herbicides. Many perennial species cannot be controlled effectively with hand labor and herbicides are often the only option.

Herbicides save labor and energy by reducing the need for hand labor and mechanical tillage. They can reduce fertilizer and irrigation requirements by eliminating competing weeds. They reduce harvest costs by eliminating interfering weeds and can reduce grain drying costs because green, weedy plant material is absent. Other methods of weed control will, of course, also accomplish these things but not as efficiently and often not as cheaply.