Abstract
Abstract Although the external pressure for environmental sound production is lower than for edible horticultural products, reduction of the use of pesticides and nutrients is also important for sustainable production of ornamental plants. The objective of the research is to get insight into the factors that influence adoption of reduction techniques for pesticides and nutrients in ornamental plant production, and compare them with those in other horticultural sectors. After selection of the most appropriate reduction techniques by a panel of experts an inquiry was set up on 80 businesses specialised in production of ornamental plants and 168 other horticultural businesses. For each business in the inquiry an environmental score was calculated on the basis of the number of adopted reduction techniques. Based on a theoretical framework the influence of personal characteristics of the firm manager (biographical characteristics, attitudes, communication behaviour) and business characteristics (business size) on the environmental score was analysed. By means of a categorical principal component analysis the explanatory variables were reduced to 5 independent dimensions. For the ornamental plant producers the results of a regression analysis revealed a significant influence of the attitude towards environmental sound production, whereas for the vegetable producers communication behaviour revealed to be important. No significant influence of the investigated factors was found for fruit producers. The sectoral differences can be explained by the fact that the external pressure for environmental sound production is different for each sector. Also the different commercialisation structure and resulting system of knowledge exchange is important. The results of the research show that stimulating the adoption of reduction techniques will be more difficult in the sector of ornamental plants, where a change in the attitude of the grower is needed. INTRODUCTION
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