Tenth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Growing research is demonstrating potential reasons for concern regarding the stability of pollination resources, with implications for agriculture and ecological pollination service provision. In this paper, we characterize the dynamic optimization problem of pollination-dependent crop producers to study these relationships and examine cross-sectional data on apple farmers for suggestive evidence on pollination choice behavior in this sector. We also use numerical dynamic programming to simulate the properties of optimal farm-level pollination choices as nested within the larger decision set that farmers face. Empirically we find evidence of spatial and farm size variation in reliance on managed pollination service markets (e.g. honey bees). Our simulations show that optimal pollination choice varies with the relative effectiveness and costs of pollination resources (e.g. wild pollinators versus honey bees), and by farm size. Our work broadly supports the idea that farm-level pollination choices to invest in wild versus managed pollination resources are important for farmers with implications for production, profitability and pollination resource conservation. This work also highlights how little is known empirically regarding these relationships and suggests value in better understanding these relationships for the benefit of farmers and society.