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An economic evaluation of the environmental benefits from pesticide reduction
Author(s) -
Brethour Cher,
Weersink Alfons
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.29
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1574-0862
pISSN - 0169-5150
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-0862.2001.tb00202.x
Subject(s) - pesticide , contingent valuation , valuation (finance) , agriculture , damages , cost–benefit analysis , willingness to pay , economics , natural resource economics , pesticide residue , business , agricultural economics , geography , microeconomics , ecology , archaeology , finance , biology , political science , law , agronomy
Previous studies on the environmental impacts of pesticide use have tended to focus either on measuring damages through changes in relative risks to various environmental categories or examining the trade‐off between pesticide use levels and abatement costs. This study uses the physical risk assessment approach combined with contingent valuation survey results on consumers’ willingness to reduce pesticide risk. The reduction in external costs associated with the changes in pesticide use in Ontario agriculture between 1983 and 1998 is U© 188 per household. The environmental benefits are largely due to the reduction in the level of high and moderate‐risk pesticides.