title: Effects of halving pesticide use on wheat production.
abstract: Pesticides pose serious threats to both human health and the environment. In Europe, farmers are encouraged to reduce their use, and in France a recent environmental policy fixed a target of halving the pesticide use by 2018. Organic and integrated cropping systems have been proposed as possible solutions for reducing pesticide use, but the effect of reducing pesticide use on crop yield remains unclear. Here we use a set of cropping system experiments to quantify the yield losses resulting from a reduction of pesticide use for winter wheat in France. Our estimated yield losses resulting from a 50% reduction in pesticide use ranged from 5 to 13% of the yield obtained with the current pesticide use. At the scale of the whole country, these losses would decrease the French wheat production by about 2 to 3 millions of tons, which represent about 15% of the French wheat export.
authors.affiliation: 1] INRA, UMR211 Agronomie, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France [2] AgroParisTech, UMR Agronomie, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hossard
authors.affiliation: 1] INRA, UMR211 Agronomie, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France [2] AgroParisTech, UMR Agronomie, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Philibert
authors.affiliation: 1] INRA, UMR211 Agronomie, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France [2] AgroParisTech, UMR Agronomie, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bertrand
authors.affiliation: 1] INRA, UMR211 Agronomie, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France [2] AgroParisTech, UMR Agronomie, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Colnenne-David
authors.affiliation: 1] INRA, UMR1248 AGIR, F-31320 Castanet-Tolosan, France [2] Université de Toulouse, INPT, UMR AGIR, F-31029 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Debaeke
authors.affiliation: 1] INRA, UMR1347 Agroecologie, F-21065 Dijon, France [2] AgroSup Dijon, UMR Agroecologie, F-21065 Dijon, France.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Munier-Jolain
authors.affiliation: 1] INRA, UMR211 Agronomie, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France [2] AgroParisTech, UMR Agronomie, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Jeuffroy
authors.affiliation: INRA, UAR1155 Département Environnement et Agronomie, F-84914 Avignon, France.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Richard
authors.affiliation: 1] INRA, UMR211 Agronomie, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France [2] AgroParisTech, UMR Agronomie, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Makowski
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000191:economics* / Q000254:growth & development; D004777:Environment; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D058871:Organic Agriculture / Q000191:economics; D010575:Pesticides / Q000191:economics* / Q000633:toxicity; D012621:Seasons; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000191:economics* / Q000633:toxicity; D014908:Triticum / Q000191:economics* / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides; D012989:Soil Pollutants