Estimating environmental and human health benefits of reducing pesticide use through integrated pest management programs

Estimates of the social benefits of integrated pest management (IPM) are fundamental to an informed assessment of the value of public expenditures for IPM research and extension. This study evaluates a subset of the potential social benefits if IPM adoption - reductions in the environmental and human health costs of pesticide use. A methodology is developed to estimate the environmental and human health costs of pesticide use associated with the production of any crop. The cost estimates for production under "conventional" (i.e. non-IPM) pest management are compared to the cost estimates associated with production under an IPM program to generate estimates of the environmental and human health benefits of IPM adoption. The development of the methodology resulted in: (1) a new algorithm for assigning levels of IPM adoption to agricultural producers; (2) the design and administration of a contingent valuation survey to estimate society's willingness to pay (WTP) to avoid pesticide related risks to the environment and human health; (3) a new technique for detecting payment vehicle bias in contingent valuation surveys; (4) a set of criteria for assigning to pesticidal active ingredients (a.i.) levels of relative risk that a. i. 's pose to eight environmental and human health categories; and (5) the assignment of relative risk levels to more than one hundred pesticidal active ingredients. All of these results are directly applicable to other studies of this kind. The analysis of Virginia apple production results in several recommendations regarding the design of future chemical use surveys conducted by United States Department of Agriculture. The analysis of the Early Leaf Spot Advisory system (ELSA) for Virginia peanut production estimates the environmental and human health benefits of ELSA to be approximately $840,000 per year.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Agricultural and Applied Economics

Department dc:contributor.department

Agricultural and Applied Economics

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1995

Author dc:creator

• Mullen, Jeffrey D.

Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair

• Norton, George W.
• Watt-Reaves, Dixie
• Herbert, D. Ames Jr.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-03042009-040443

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/41393