Reducing pesticide use in fruit and vegetables: Are economic, environmental, and health dimensions always aligned?

Reducing pesticide use in fruit and vegetables: Are economic, environmental, and health dimensions always aligned? | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Reducing pesticide use in fruit and vegetables: Are economic, environmental, and health dimensions always aligned? Hervé Guyomard This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8016687/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Chemical inputs used in agriculture raise environmental and public health concerns. This article evaluates three policy instruments designed to reduce the use of mineral fertilizers and synthetic pesticides in the French fruit and vegetable sector: a tax on these inputs, subsidies for organic production, and subsidies for organic consumption. The results reveal marked contrasts. Taxation reduces the intensity of chemical input use but has limited effects on the share of organic area, whereas subsidies lead to substantial shifts toward organic farming. Biodiversity outcomes depend on the shape of the relationship between chemical input use and biodiversity: taxation performs best under a concave form, while production subsidies dominate under a convex form. Regarding health, consumption subsidies consistently improve outcomes, whereas taxation and production subsidies are beneficial only when organic products pose lower relative risks than conventional ones. Budgetary costs are highest for consumption subsidies, moderate for production subsidies, and lowest for taxation. Social cost rankings depend on the level of ambition concerning biodiversity and health objectives, the relative health risks of both product types, and the curvature of the chemical input–biodiversity function. Health sciences/Diseases/Nutrition disorders Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact Business and commerce/Economics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files 2.SM03112025.docx Supplementary Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8016687","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":555446845,"identity":"43e01713-8bec-4f37-8adf-fa7721afd447","order_by":0,"name":"Hervé Guyomard","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA9UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACA1Qumw0PhGFDvJY0qJY04rUcZiCoxZy995nEB4baxA3HuxM/V5SdlzGXPvzwAUPCPZxaLHuOm0nOYDieuOHM2c2SZ87d5rHsSzM2YEgoxu2wG2nMxjwMxxI33MjdINnYdpvH4AyDmQTjjwTcWu4/Yzb+A9Gy+Wdj2zmgFvbvPxgS8Gi5wcb4mIGhBqRlG9CWA0AtPGYMeLWcSWN82GNwwHjmmbPbLBvOJYO0FEsk4NNy/BjDgR8VdbJ9x3s332wos7MHOmzjhw94tEA1HmZQOIAsQEgDENQxyDcQVjUKRsEoGAUjFAAA1VZZMytE6n8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1935-2359","institution":"INRAE","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hervé","middleName":"","lastName":"Guyomard","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-11-03 08:36:10","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8016687/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8016687/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":102294936,"identity":"58456978-5e9b-428f-ad23-99427fadaf83","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-10 10:05:03","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":580933,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"1.manuscript03112025.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8016687/v1_covered_83f20c66-c79e-4875-954f-13740993b49b.pdf"},{"id":97683414,"identity":"21025191-23b1-4e02-b6a0-f19eb091ad0c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-08 10:03:34","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":86780,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Information","description":"","filename":"2.SM03112025.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8016687/v1/68410f4cfc60181ef455bcf0.docx"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Reducing pesticide use in fruit and vegetables: Are economic, environmental, and health dimensions always aligned?","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8016687/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8016687/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Chemical inputs used in agriculture raise environmental and public health concerns. 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