Spraying for the beauty: Pesticide use for visual appearance in apple production
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Author / Producer
Date
2024-07
Publication Type
Journal Article
ETH Bibliography
yes
Citations
Altmetric
OPEN ACCESS
Data
Abstract
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.
Permanent link
Publication status
published
External links
Editor
Book title
Journal / series
Volume
55 (4)
Pages / Article No.
621 - 638
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Event
Edition / version
Methods
Software
Geographic location
Date collected
Date created
Subject
Cosmetic pesticides; Pesticide risk reduction; Supply chain; Table apples
Organisational unit
09564 - Finger, Robert / Finger, Robert
Notes
Funding
193762 - Evidence-based Transformation in Pesticide Governance (SNF)
Related publications and datasets
Is supplemented by: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000668506