An estimated 30% of agrichemical compounds contain fluorine. Most of them are used as poisons, but a few stimulate growth instead. 
Sodium fluoroacetate has been used as an insecticide, but it is especially effective against mammalian pests. The name "1080" refers to the catalogue number of the poison, which became its brand name. Fluoroacetate is similar to acetate, which has a pivotal role in the Krebs cycle (a key part of cell metabolism). Fluoroacetate halts the cycle and causes cells to be deprived of energy. Several other insecticides contain sodium fluoride, which is much less toxic than fluoroacetate. Insects fed 29-fluorostigmasterol use it to produce fluoroacetates. If a fluorine is transferred to a body cell, it blocks metabolism at the position occupied.
Trifluralin was widely used in the 20th century, for example, in over half of U.S. cotton field acreage in 1998. Because of its suspected carcinogenic properties some Northern European countries banned it in 1993. As of 2015, the European Union has banned it, although Dow made a case to cancel the decision in 2011.