Strawberry fields forever: Can consumers see pesticides and sustainability as an issue?

Abstract

Pesticide use is pervasive and intensive in agricultural production. Certain food activists, producers, and public health researchers contest pervasive pesticide use on the basis that it is unsustainable for human health, the environment and the control of pests in growing food. In Australia government has largely left the resolution of this contestation to consumer choice. Yet the use of pesticides is barely visible to those consuming the products. This paper uses the example of strawberries to trace back how consumption choices are framed by regulatory choices in which consumers have little engagement. Strawberries have traditionally been a highly pesticide-intensive crop. The results highlight the limits of consumer choice as a method of deliberative democratic engagement with issues of agrifood sustainability.