IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v39y2001i3p449-462.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why farmers continue to use pesticides despite environmental, health and sustainability costs

Author

Listed:
  • Wilson, Clevo
  • Tisdell, Clem

Abstract

Use of chemical inputs such as pesticides have increased agricultural production and productivity. However, negative externalities, too, have increased. The externalities include damage to the environment, agricultural land, fisheries, fauna and flora. Another major externality has been the unintentional destruction of beneficial predators of insects which has led to a virulence of many species of agricultural pests. Mortality and morbidity among agricultural workers, especially in developing countries from exposure to pesticides, are also common. The costs from these externalities are large and affect farmers’ returns. However, despite these high costs, farmers continue to use pesticides and in increasing quantities. In this paper, we examine this paradox and show why farmers continue to use pesticides despite the increasing costs. We also emphasize ‘lock-in’ aspects of pesticide use.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Wilson, Clevo & Tisdell, Clem, 2001. "Why farmers continue to use pesticides despite environmental, health and sustainability costs," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 449-462, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:39:y:2001:i:3:p:449-462
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921-8009(01)00238-5
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Duncan, R & Tisdell, Clem, 1971. "Research and Technical Progress: The Returns to Producers," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 47(117), pages 124-129, March.
    2. Masakatsu Akino & Yujiro Hayami, 1975. "Efficiency and Equity in Public Research: Rice Breeding in Japan's Economic Development: Reply," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 57(4), pages 734-735.
    3. Clement A. Tisdell, 2014. "Sustainable agriculture," Chapters, in: Giles Atkinson & Simon Dietz & Eric Neumayer & Matthew Agarwala (ed.), Handbook of Sustainable Development, chapter 32, pages 517-531, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Widawsky, David & Rozelle, Scott & Jin, Songqing & Huang, Jikun, 1998. "Pesticide productivity, host-plant resistance and productivity in China," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 19(1-2), pages 203-217, September.
    5. R. Duncan & C. Tisdell, 1971. "Research and Technical Progress: The Returns to Producers," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 47(1), pages 124-129, March.
    6. Osteen, Craig D. & Szmedra, Philip I., 1989. "Agricultural Pesticide Use Trends and Policy Issues," Agricultural Economic Reports 308081, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    7. Lohr, Luanne & Park, Timothy & Higley, Leon, 1999. "Farmer risk assessment for voluntary insecticide reduction," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 121-130, July.
    8. Vivien Foster & Susana Mourato, 2000. "Valuing the Multiple Impacts of Pesticide Use in the UK: A Contingent Ranking Approach," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 1-21, January.
    9. Tsu‐Tan Fu & Jin‐Tan Liu & James K. Hammitt, 1999. "Consumer Willingness to Pay for Low‐Pesticide Fresh Produce in Taiwan," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 220-233, May.
    10. Cowan, Robin & Gunby, Philip, 1996. "Sprayed to Death: Path Dependence, Lock-In and Pest Control Strategies," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(436), pages 521-542, May.
    11. Andrew K. Dragun & Clem Tisdell (ed.), 1999. "Sustainable Agriculture and Environment," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1881.
    12. Jeffery Bentley & Graham Thiele, 1999. "Bibliography: Farmer knowledge and management of crop disease," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 16(1), pages 75-81, March.
    13. Carlson, Gerald A. & Zilberman, David & Miranowski, John, 1993. "Agricultural and Resource Economics," Staff General Research Papers Archive 11104, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    14. R. K. Lindner & F. G. Jarrett, 1978. "Supply Shifts and the Size of Research Benefits," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 60(1), pages 48-58.
    15. Masakatsu Akino & Yujiro Hayami, 1975. "Efficiency and Equity in Public Research: Rice Breeding in Japan's Economic Development," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 57(1), pages 1-10.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Edwards, Geoff W. & Freebairn, John W., 1982. "The Social Benefits from an Increase in Productivity in a Part of an Industry," Review of Marketing and Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 50(02), pages 1-18, August.
    2. Michael Harris & Alan Lloyd, 1991. "The Returns to Agricultural Research and the Underinvestment Hypothesis ‐ A Survey," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 24(3), pages 16-27, July.
    3. Vere, David T. & Sinden, Jack A. & Campbell, M.H., 1980. "Social Benefits of Serrated Tussock Control in New South Wales," Review of Marketing and Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 56(03), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Jarrett, Frank G. & Lindner, Robert K., 1977. "Research Benefits Revisited," Review of Marketing and Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 45(04), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Managi, Shunsuke, 2006. "Are there increasing returns to pollution abatement? Empirical analytics of the Environmental Kuznets Curve in pesticides," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 617-636, June.
    6. Pedro Andres Garzon Delvaux & Heinrich Hockmann & Peter Voigt & Pavel Ciaian & Sergio Gomez y Paloma, 2018. "The impact of private R&D on the performance of food-processing firms: Evidence from Europe, Japan and North America," JRC Research Reports JRC104144, Joint Research Centre.
    7. ., 2013. "Using markets and marketlike mechanisms to manage a multidivisional business efficiently," Chapters, in: Competition, Diversity and Economic Performance, chapter 13, pages 253-278, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Smith, Anna Rickett & Dorfman, Jeffrey H., 2002. "An Economic Evaluation Of Cotton And Peanut Research In Southeastern United States," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19900, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    9. Alston, Julian M. & Freebairn, John W. & James, Jennifer S., 2004. "Levy-funded research choices by producers and society," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 48(1), pages 1-32.
    10. Salayo, Nerissa D., 2000. "Investment Opportunities for the Shrimp Processing Industry in the Philippines: Results from a Hedonic Analysis," Discussion Papers DP 2000-12, Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
    11. Norton, George W. & Davis, Jeffrey S., 1979. "Review Of Methods Used To Evaluate Returns To Agricultural Research," Staff Papers 13520, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    12. Vernon Ruttan, 1980. "Bureaucratic productivity: The case of agricultural research," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 35(5), pages 529-547, January.
    13. Pannell, David J. & Morrison, David A., 1994. "Towards a Decision Support System for Economic Evaluation of Agricultural Research," 1994 Conference (38th), February 8-10, 1994, Wellington, New Zealand 148530, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    14. Ephraim M. Nkonya & Joe L. Parcell, 1999. "Redistribution of social benefits from advances in extension and research in the Tanzanian maize industry," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 21(3), pages 231-239, December.
    15. Ahmed, Mohamed A.M. & Shideed, Kamel & Mazid, Ahmed, 2010. "Returns to Policy-Oriented Agricultural Research: The Case of Barley Fertilization in Syria," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1462-1472, October.
    16. Miller, Gay & Rosenblatt, Joseph & Hushak, Leroy, 1987. "The Effects Of Supply Shifts On Producers Surplus," 1987 Annual Meeting, August 2-5, East Lansing, Michigan 270116, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    17. Frisvold, George B. & Sullivan, John & Raneses, Anton, 2003. "Genetic improvements in major US crops: the size and distribution of benefits," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 109-119, March.
    18. Horbasz, C. N. & Fox, G. & Brinkman, G. L., 1988. "The Returns to Sheep Research in Canada: 1968-1984," Department of Agricultural Economics and Business 258613, University of Guelph.
    19. Haque, A.K. Enamul & Fox, Glenn & Brinkman, George L., 1987. "The Rate of Return to Egg Research in Canada- 1968-1984," Working Papers 244822, University of Guelph, Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    20. Kim, Yun-Shik & Sumner, Daniel A., 2005. "Measuring Research Benefits With Import Ban Restrictions, Quality Changes, Non-Market Influences On Adoption And Food Security Incentives," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19148, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:39:y:2001:i:3:p:449-462. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.