Abstract

The present study investigates public acceptance and perceptions of the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of food produced with different weed control measures, namely traditional full-surface herbicide spraying and the use of herbicide-reduction and herbicide-free technologies. An online survey with a within-subject design was conducted with 485 respondents from the French- and German-speaking parts of Switzerland. Acceptance of food produced using the investigated measures and the social, economic, and environmental sustainability perceptions were assessed for full-surface herbicide spraying, herbicide reduction via the use of precision technologies (spot spraying and precise spraying), and herbicide removal via the use of a mechanical technology (hoeing machine). The importance of naturalness of food, chemophobia, perceptions of farmers, and sociodemographic variables were also recorded. The results reveal distinct trade-offs between the social, economic, and environmental sustainability perceptions of the investigated weed control measures, indicating that consumers assess the impacts of the measures based on their type (i.e., chemical, digital, and mechanical). Moreover, naturalness and sustainability perceptions, and thus acceptance of food produced, were significantly higher for herbicide-free and herbicide-reduction measures than for full-surface herbicide spraying. Among the herbicide-reduction measures, precise spraying was significantly perceived as more natural, sustainable, and acceptable than spot spraying. Overall, the findings suggest that communicating information on the type of weed control measure used, the quantity of herbicide applied, and the precision of the spraying technique might help increase public acceptance of plant protection measures applied by farmers and promote sustainability.

Presenters

Rita Saleh
Scientific Collaborator, Agroscope, Federal Department of Economy, Education, and Research, Agroscope, Switzerland

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

Economic, Social, and Cultural Context

KEYWORDS

SUSTAINABILITY PERCEPTIONS, PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE, AGRICULTURE, WEED CONTROL MEASURES

Digital Media

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