Pesticide-free but not organic: Adoption of a large-scale wheat production standard in Switzerland

Abstract

The sustainable intensification of agriculture requires solutions for a large-scale reduction of pesticide use while sustaining agricultural yields. Pesticide-free production standards, which bring together the strengths of all the food value chain actors, could be a cornerstone of this transformation. In Switzerland, a non-organic, private-public standard for pesticide-free wheat production is currently being introduced by the producer organization IP-SUISSE. It is the first of its kind in Europe and may reach a market share of 50% of Swiss wheat production. We here assess the determinants of farmers' participation and willingness to participate in the future. For our analysis, we combine a survey of the entire population of IP-SUISSE wheat producers (4749 farmers, 23.3% response rate) with data on historical farm-level wheat yields, soil properties, weather, climate, weed pressure, and spread of herbicide resistance. Our results indicate that a large-scale establishment of pesticide-free wheat production in Switzerland is possible. We find that farmers' perceptions of positive environmental effects of the production program are key for adoption. Moreover, farmers' expectations of the program's production effects play a central role. Farmers perceiving large yield losses and increases in production risks are less likely to enter the program. Based on our results, we discuss implications, leverage points, and challenges for designing and implementing large-scale pesticide-free production programs.

Can the Part Replace the Whole? A Choice Experiment on Organic and Pesticide-Free Labels

“…Large-scale reductions in pesticide use in the context of unfavorable food production require more innovative and flexible systems to complement organic farming [ 14 ]. Pesticide-free production standards, which combine the strengths of all food value chain players, may be the cornerstone of this shift [ 15 ]. In Switzerland, the IP-SUISSE producer organization is introducing a nonorganic, private–public standard for pesticide-free wheat production [ 15 ].…”

“…Pesticide-free production standards, which combine the strengths of all food value chain players, may be the cornerstone of this shift [ 15 ]. In Switzerland, the IP-SUISSE producer organization is introducing a nonorganic, private–public standard for pesticide-free wheat production [ 15 ]. Studies have demonstrated that the pesticide-free attribute is the most important aspect of consumer interest when purchasing organic produce [ 16 , 17 ].…”

National leverage points to reduce global pesticide pollution

“…While global differences in pesticide use and risk across countries are documented , Zhang, 2018 and despite the general presumption that national farming systems and policies must be important in shifting the risk of pesticide pollution up or down, so far, a rigorous econometric estimate of their importance was lacking. Along these lines, while there are several studies focusing on explaining differences in pesticide use and risk across farms and regions (Möhring and Finger, 2022, Möhring et al, 2020b, Staudacher et al, 2020, Tang and Luo, 2021, Waterfield and Zilberman, 2012, global evidence on the determinants of aggregate differences in pesticide use and risk across countries is missing so far.…”

When my neighbors matter: Spillover effects in the adoption of large‐scale pesticide‐free wheat production

“…It is the first large‐scale pesticide‐free production program in Europe, breaking new grounds in shifting agricultural production systems towards being more environmentally sustainable. In this production system, farmers cannot use synthetic pesticides in wheat production, but can still make use of synthetic fertilizer and are not restricted in pesticide use in other parts of the crop rotation (Möhring & Finger, 2022). Thus, it entails substantially fewer adoption barriers than organic farming, and bears high potential for large‐scale sustainable intensification of agriculture (Finger & Möhring, 2022).…”