Lucca Zachmann

Last Name

Zachmann

First Name

Lucca

ORCID

0000-0002-3362-1853

Organisational unit

02252 - World Food System Center / World Food System Center

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Publications1 - 10 of 13

Economics and Policy of Pesticide Reductions in Perennial Crops: The Role of Information within the Supply Chain
Zachmann, Lucca (2024)
Pesticides, while indispensable for agricultural productivity, have negative consequences on human health and the environment. In response to growing concerns within societies, numerous countries including Switzerland have embarked on ambitious plans to curtail pesticide use and its associated risks. However, the progress towards these use and risk reduction objectives has been insufficient, leaving many targets unmet. Perennial crops such as grapevines and apples that remain planted for multiple seasons rank among the most pesticide intensive but also economically relevant crops. Addressing pesticide use and risk reductions in these crops feature large leverage for achieving substantial pesticide reductions in agriculture overall. This thesis consists of four standalone chapters, accompanied by four supporting appendices, with the overarching goal of investigating factors that influence the uptake of pesticide use and risk reduction strategies at the farm in perennial crops without compromising yields and as such agricultural productivity. Confining policy focus solely to farmers, who constitute the ultimate users of pesticides, does not exhaust the full reduction potential. Instead, acknowledging the role of the supply chain emerges as a crucial factor in molding strategies for pest management decisions taken on the farm. The exchange of information and motives of actors within the supply chain may influence pest management decisions at the farm, and is thus focus within this thesis. Using survey data from 681 grapevine and apple growers across Switzerland, the thesis examines factors affecting the uptake of fungus-resistant grapevine varieties that feature large potential to cut pesticide use in vineyards without compromising yields. However, their uptake remains low. Moreover, the thesis examines factors affecting the use of cosmetic pesticides which aim at augmenting the visual quality of dessert apples without affecting output quantities. After setting the introductory context in chapter 1, the thesis documents in chapter 2 a significant increase in the land share grapevine growers expect to devote to fungus-resistant grapevine varieties within the next decade. Specifically, the land share is expected to grow by 169% compared to the current level, with one third of new plantings being fungus-resistant. Farm- and farmer characteristics explain most of this increase, opposed to farmers’ perceptions, preferences, regional characteristics or personality traits. Furthermore, the thesis documents in chapter 3 that nudging grapevine growers with personalized information about their use of environmentally toxic fungicides demonstrates limited efficacy in promoting the uptake of fungus-resistant varieties. Instead, providing personalized information to grapevine growers whose beliefs are intervention incompatible might yield unintended adverse effects. In chapter 4, the thesis examines the effect of fungus-resistant varieties’ eligibility for geographical denominations on their use by grapevine growers. The results show that fungus-resistant varieties are more likely to be taken up if they are eligible for geographical denominations, yet at a smaller magnitude compared to traditional varieties. In chapter 5, the focus is on explanatory factors of the use of cosmetic pesticides. The results show that the more distant the producer is to the final consumer, i.e. by marketing via intermediaries, the more likely is the use of cosmetic pesticides. In conclusion, the thesis provides five practical public policy considerations towards reducing pesticide use and risks in perennial crops, as well as limitations and avenues for future research.
Data on Swiss grape growers’ production, pest and labour management decisions
Höper, Philipp; Zachmann, Lucca; Finger, Robert (2025)
Data in Brief
This dataset comprises survey responses from 489 grape growers in Switzerland, focusing on their decisions related to production, pest management, risk management, behavioural factors, and labour management. The online survey was conducted in early spring 2025 and includes details on grape variety selection, farm practices, and characteristics of both the farmers and their farms. Additional data covers all other relevant pest management strategies targeting weeds, insects, and fungal threats. Farmer-specific attributes such as education, gender, age, and sources of information were recorded, alongside general labour force characteristics and perceptions regarding recruitment, and mechanization. Behavioural factors including risk and time preferences, self-efficacy, and locus of control were assessed using self-report scales. Farm-level data includes marketing approaches, labels and production systems, agri-environmental programs, and pesticide application equipment. The survey responses were linked with environmental variables—such as temperature and rainfall—and spatial data on the infection risk of Oidium and Peronospora viticola. Innovatively, the data contains the adoption stage of growers (not just binary adoption) for four key pesticide-reducing practices (i.e. the plantation of fungus-resistant varieties, the use of plant resistance inducers, inorganic materials and mechanical weeding), along with their views on influencing factors and labour demands associated with these measures. This dataset provides an extensive resource for standalone analyses on production, pest management, risk management, behavioural factors, and labour management, as well as for use in meta-analyses or as part of a panel dataset combined with previous similar surveys.
Data on Swiss grapevine growers’ production, pest management and risk management decisions
Zachmann, Lucca; McCallum, Chloe; Finger, Robert (2023)
Data in Brief
We present survey data from 436 grapevine growers across Switzerland and their production, pest, and risk management decisions. The online survey was conducted in spring 2022 in the three main official languages in Switzerland (German, French, Italian). The survey was used to obtain information on variety choice and farm management strategies, as well as farmer, farm, and spatial environmental characteristics. Moreover, we collected information around fungus-resistant grapevine varieties such as knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of these varieties. We also elicited the current cultivation and growers’ intentions on future acreage under these varieties. In addition, data were collected on growers’ pest management strategies against weeds, insects, and fungi. Characteristics of the farm manager collected include education, farming goals, wine-related expertise, and information sources used. Information about the farm consist of marketing channels, labels, direct payment schemes, production systems and pesticide application machinery, among other details. Moreover, risk and time preferences, self-efficacy and locus of control were collected via self-assessed scales. The survey data were matched with spatial climatic data on municipality level (e.g. on temperature, precipitation, the number of yearly hail days, average sunshine duration and relative humidity) as well as pest pressure (e.g. infection risk by Oidium and Peronospora viticola) at weather station level.
Nudging farmers towards low-pesticide practices: Evidence from a randomized experiment in viticulture
Zachmann, Lucca; McCallum, Chloe; Finger, Robert (2023)
Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association
Planting fungus-resistant grapevines is an effective way to reduce pesticide use in grapevine production, but their uptake remains low. We explore whether providing personalized or general information on growers’ use of environmentally toxic fungicides changes their planting intentions of fungus-resistant varieties (i.e. salience nudging), conducting a randomized experiment with 436 grapevine growers in Switzerland. We find no effect of providing personalized or general information on the intended plantation share of fungus-resistant varieties. However, exploratory analyses suggest that growers' perceptions about fungus-resistant varieties may cause the null result, with growers having non-compliant environmental perceptions being particularly prone to boomerang effects.
Barriers to evidence use for sustainability: Insights from pesticide policy and practice
Hofmann, Benjamin; Ingold, Karin; Stamm, Christian; et al. (2023)
Ambio
Calls for supporting sustainability through more and better research rest on an incomplete understanding of scientific evidence use. We argue that a variety of barriers to a transformative impact of evidence arises from diverse actor motivations within different stages of evidence use. We abductively specify this variety in policy and practice arenas for three actor motivations (truth-seeking, sense-making, and utility-maximizing) and five stages (evidence production, uptake, influence on decisions, effects on sustainability outcomes, and feedback from outcome evaluations). Our interdisciplinary synthesis focuses on the sustainability challenge of reducing environmental and human health risks of agricultural pesticides. It identifies barriers resulting from (1) truth-seekers’ desire to reduce uncertainty that is complicated by evidence gaps, (2) sense-makers’ evidence needs that differ from the type of evidence available, and (3) utility-maximizers’ interests that guide strategic evidence use. We outline context-specific research–policy–practice measures to increase evidence use for sustainable transformation in pesticides and beyond.
Spraying for the beauty: Pesticide use for visual appearance in apple production
Zachmann, Lucca; McCallum, Chloe; Finger, Robert (2024)
Agricultural Economics
Pesticides are used to reduce yield losses and to enhance the visual quality of products. However, pesticide use raises concerns due to negative health and environmental effects, hence ambitious policy goals for their reduction have been established. Reducing pesticides which mainly focus on visual quality of products could be an efficient strategy to contribute to these goals, without reducing food production. However, the role of “cosmetic” pesticide use is so far not well documented and understood. Here, we quantify cosmetic pesticide use and the influence of supply chain characteristics on their use. We focus on table apple production, where the visual quality of products is a key aspect. Using a sample of 196 apple growers in Switzerland, we find that 23.5%–59.2% of growers use cosmetic pesticides for the apples’ visual appearance. Farms mainly marketing via intermediaries are 23.9-29.6% more likely to spray cosmetic pesticides for visual purposes compared to farms mainly direct marketing. Our findings highlight the role of supply chains in farmer decision-making, recommending a decrease in the focus on visual product quality, especially in retail environments, thus minimizing unnecessary and irreversible risks of pesticide exposure by farmers without compromising food security.
The effect of geographical denomination on the uptake of fungus-resistant grapes
Zachmann, Lucca; McCallum, Chloe; Finger, Robert (2025)
Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy
Grape production for wine making is of great economic and cultural importance in Europe, but is heavily dependent on pesticides. Reducing pesticide use and associated risks is a policy goal in several countries, particularly in Europe. The most effective strategy to substantially reduce pesticide use in grape production is the planting of fungus-resistant varieties, which are less susceptible to common fungal infections and thus allow a massive reduction in pesticide treatments. However, their use remains low. One possible reason may be that planting new varieties may conflict with policies supporting geographical denomination systems, which tend to focus on traditional varieties. We provide the first study of how geographical denomination systems directly affect the adoption of fungus-resistant varieties. Using a novel and uniquely detailed dataset of 54,483 variety-level observations from 381 vineyards in Switzerland, we find that fungus-resistant grape varieties are 2% more likely to be adopted by growers if they can be sold under geographical denominations. Thus, expanding the eligibility of fungus-resistant varieties in geographical denomination lists could be a straightforward policy measure to stimulate their adoption. However, the effects are small, so complementary policies are needed.
Determinants of the adoption of fungus-resistant grapevines: Evidence from Switzerland
Zachmann, Lucca; McCallum, Chloe; Finger, Robert (2024)
Journal of Wine Economics
The adoption of fungus-resistant grapevines may be a key strategy for substantially reducing fungicide use in pesticide-intensive viticulture. In a representative survey conducted among 436 grapevine growers in Switzerland, we elicited growers' expected share of land devoted to fungus-resistant varieties in ten years. More specifically, using regression analyses, we explore the main predictors behind the stated adoption intentions. We find that one-third of new plantings in the next decade will be fungus-resistant varieties. As a result, the expected share of land devoted to fungus-resistant varieties in ten years is 27.4% (compared to 10.2% in 2022), thus increasing by 169%. Farmer- and farm characteristics explain most of the adoption dynamics, especially growers' beneficial health perceptions about fungus-resistant varieties, which correlate positively with their expected land share devoted to these varieties. Moreover, non-organic grapevine growers are particularly likely to increase their land devoted to these varieties. These findings have important implications for agricultural policy and industry in Europe and elsewhere, facilitating the expected plantation increase using a policy mix tailored to farmer- and farm-level characteristics.
Farm-level data on production systems, farmer- and farm characteristics of apple growers in Switzerland
Zachmann, Lucca; McCallum, Chloe; Finger, Robert (2023)
Data in Brief
We here present survey data from apple growers across Switzerland. Data from 245 apple growers was collected, using an online survey in French and German in 2022. The sampled growers represent 24.4% from total land under apples. Apple production is one of the most economically relevant and pesticide intensive crops. Hence, the focus of the survey is on growers’ pest management decisions and marketing strategies. Survey data contains details on growers’ agronomic practices such as grown cultivars, pest management against fungi, insects, and weeds, as well as pesticide use for cosmetic purposes. Moreover, we collected information on pest management after harvest, i.e. storage loss strategies. Marketing characteristics include the sales channel chosen as well as labels used and contract arrangements with buyers. Moreover, detailed data about farm management strategies, behavioral factors, as well as other farm- and farmer characteristics was collected. Survey data is matched with a rich set of environmental data, i.e. precipitation, temperature, and apple scab infection risk.
A typology of interdisciplinary collaborations: insights from agri-food transformation research
Hofmann, Benjamin; Reber, Ueli; Ammann, Priska; et al. (2025)
Sustainability Science
To understand complex societal transformations, scholars have called for more interdisciplinary research in which researchers from various disciplines collaborate. To support the implementation of such collaborations, we introduce a novel typology of interdisciplinary collaborations developed from the literature and from structured reflection on our own research experience. The typology distinguishes (I) common base, (II) common destination, and (III) sequential link type of interdisciplinary collaborations. Common base refers to an interdisciplinary collaboration at one research stage that later separates into parallel disciplinary work; common destination to a collaboration where separate disciplinary work feeds into joint interdisciplinary work at the next stage; and sequential link to a completed stage of disciplinary research that provides the basis for research in another discipline. We illustrate the typology with a case study of interdisciplinary collaborations in a research project that studied the potential for an evidence-based transformation of agricultural pesticide governance. The project involved researchers from seven natural, health, and social science disciplines who developed a process for forming and maintaining interdisciplinary collaborations. We provide five examples of interdisciplinary collaborations from the project, explaining for each its practical design and implementation, its contribution to overall research goals, and related opportunities and challenges. The examples show that the typology can systematize the thinking about interdisciplinary collaborations and enable critical reflection about interdisciplinary research design and implementation. Based on our reflections as early-career researchers, we conclude with lessons that can inform future interdisciplinary research projects on agri-food transformation and beyond.

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