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Pathways for advancing pesticide policies

Nature Food volume 1, pages 535–540 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Numerous pesticide policies have been introduced to mitigate the risks of pesticide use, but most have not been successful in reaching usage reduction goals. Here, we name key challenges for the reduction of environmental and health risks from agricultural pesticide use and develop a framework for improving current policies. We demonstrate the need for policies to encompass all actors in the food value chain. By adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, we suggest ten key steps to achieve a reduction in pesticide risks. We highlight how new technologies and regulatory frameworks can be implemented and aligned with all actors in food value chains. Finally, we discuss major trade-offs and areas of tension with other agricultural policy goals and propose a holistic approach to advancing pesticide policies.

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Fig. 1: Interactions between food value chain actors and pesticide policies.
Fig. 2: A holistic approach to pesticide policies.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the research team of the Sinergia project CRSII5_193762 Evidence-based Transformation of Pesticide Governance, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, for conceptual support and intellectual inspiration. F.M.-L. was supported by the ANR project DECISIVE — Tracking degradation of soil pollutants with multi-elemental compound-specific isotope analysis (grant no. ANR-18-CE04-0004-02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural Economics and Policy Group, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Niklas Möhring & Robert Finger

  2. Institute of Political Science and Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research, University Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Karin Ingold

  3. Environmental Social Science Department, Eawag, Dübendorf, Switzerland

    Karin Ingold

  4. Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Slagelse, Denmark

    Per Kudsk

  5. AgroSup Dijon, INRAE, Université de Bourgogne, Université de Bourgogne Franche Comté, Agroécologie, Dijon, France

    Fabrice Martin-Laurent

  6. Agroscope, Bern, Switzerland

    Urs Niggli

  7. Consumer Behavior, Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Michael Siegrist

  8. Molecular Plant Breeding, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Bruno Studer

  9. Crop Science Group, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Achim Walter

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  1. Niklas Möhring
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N.M. and R.F. conceived of and led the manuscript writing and editing. The final manuscript was based on written input from all authors. All authors carefully revised the manuscript and approved the submission.

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Möhring, N., Ingold, K., Kudsk, P. et al. Pathways for advancing pesticide policies. Nat Food 1, 535–540 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-00141-4

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