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Bachelor’s Thesis - Pesticide-free labels and implications for farmers
As concern about the negative effects of
pesticides on non-target organisms and human health increases (Larsen
et al., 2017; Tang et al., 2021), pesticide reduction has become a
principal goal of agricultural policy across Europe (Jacquet et al.,
2022; Kudsk et al., 2020, Möhring et al. 2020). To meet these goals,
farmers are increasingly supported to adopt low- or no-pesticide
production practices. In addition, private actors - such as
downstream industries – are pushing farmers into new production
systems. With this, new forms of agricultural production are also
emerging, such as pesticide-free grain production (Möhring and
Finger, 2022) or low-pesticide winegrowing (Pedneault and Provost,
2016). Studies often focus on consumer valuation of indications of
low-pesticide or pesticide-free production (e.g., in form of labels)
(Gatti et al., 2022; Wendt et al., 2023; Zheng et al., 2022).
However, this is not well connected to the reality of labels and
schemes currently emerging in Switzerland and other European
countries. Moreover, it remains unclear what such labels imply for
producers, e.g. what exactly is demanded from farmers upon label
adoption. It may be especially challenging for producers to i) choose
a suitable label among the many available options, ii) disentangle
associated production requirements and potential benefits of label
adoption, and iii) judge how relevant such labels are overall.
References
Gatti,
N., Gomez, M. I., Bennet, R. E., Sillett, T. S., and Bowe, J. (2022)
‘Eco-labels matter: Coffee consumers value agrochemical-free
attributes over biodiversity conservation’, Food Quality and
Preference, 98, 104509.
Grebitus,
C., and Van Loo, E. J. (2022) ‘Relationship between cognitive and
affective processes, and willingness to pay for pesticide-free and
GMO-free labeling’, Agricultural Economics, 53(3), 407-421.
Jacquet,
F., Jeuffroy, M. H., Jouan, J., Le Cadre, E., Litrico, I., Malausa,
T., ... &
Huyghe, C. (2022). Pesticide-free agriculture as a new paradigm for
research. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 42(1), 8.
Kudsk,
P., and Mathiassen, S. (2020) ‘Pesticide regulation in the European
Union and the glyphosate controversy’, Weed
Science, 214-222.
Larsen,
A. E., Gaines, S. D:, and Deschênes, O. (2017) ‘Agricultural
pesticide use and adverse birth outcomes in the San Joaquin Valley of
California’. Nature Communications, 8, 302.
Möhring,
N. and Finger, R. (2022) ‘Pesticide-free but not organic: Adoption
of a large-scale wheat production standard in Switzerland’, Food
Policy 106, 102188.
Möhring,
N., Ingold, K., Kudsk, P., Martin-Laurent, F., Niggli, U., Siegrist,
M., Studer, B., Walter, A. and Finger, R., 2020. Pathways for
advancing pesticide policies. Nature
food,
1(9),
pp.535-540.
Pedneault,
K. and Provost, C. (2016) ‘Fungus resistant grape varieties as a
suitable alternative for organic wine production: Benefits, limits,
and challenges’, Scientia Horticulturae, 208, 57-77.
Tang,
F. H. M., Lenzen, M., McBratney, A., and Maggi, F. (2021) ‘Risk of
pesticide pollution at the global scale’, Nature Geoscience, 14,
206-210.
Wendt,
M. C. and Weinricht, R. (2023) ‘Consumer Segmentation for
Pesticide-free Food Products in Germany’, Sustainable Production
and Consumption, 42, 309-321.
Zheng,
Q., Wen, X., Xiu, X., Yang, X., and Chen, Q. (2022) ‘Can the Part
Replace the Whole? A Choice Experiment on Organic and Pesticide-Free
Labels’, Foods, 11(17), 2564.
The
goal of this bachelor’s thesis is to create a comprehensive
overview of available low-pesticide or pesticide-free production
labels in relevant countries such as Switzerland and France (and
maybe Germany and Austria).
Research
Question: What labels are
available, how do their requirements align, what benefit do they
bring the farmer (e.g. price markups), and how relevant are they
(i.e., adoption rate, role in pesticide reduction, implications for
sustainable farming overall)?
Methods:
Literature review and review of real-world examples.
The goal of this bachelor’s thesis is to create a comprehensive overview of available low-pesticide or pesticide-free production labels in relevant countries such as Switzerland and France (and maybe Germany and Austria).
Research Question: What labels are available, how do their requirements align, what benefit do they bring the farmer (e.g. price markups), and how relevant are they (i.e., adoption rate, role in pesticide reduction, implications for sustainable farming overall)?
Methods: Literature review and review of real-world examples.
If you are interested in this thesis please contact me directly at aziehmann@ethz.ch. I will send you some additional material so you can decide if you want to take on the thesis. Excited to hear from you soon! The start and end date can be adjusted to best fit your needs and the thesis may be written in English or German, depending on your preferences.
If you are interested in this thesis please contact me directly at aziehmann@ethz.ch. I will send you some additional material so you can decide if you want to take on the thesis. Excited to hear from you soon! The start and end date can be adjusted to best fit your needs and the thesis may be written in English or German, depending on your preferences.
BA_pestifree_labels.pdf
