Understanding diversity in farmers’ routinized crop protection practices

Abstract

Present-day agricultural crop protection relies heavily on synthetic pesticides, which are known to adversely affect the environment and human health. As remediation, European agricultural policies strive for a transition to low-pesticide agriculture. However, these policy efforts have so far shown limited success. We argue that neglecting the diversity of the according routinized practices belongs to the reasons for that limited success. We specifically investigate how farmers' current local crop protection practices differ. Methodologically, the article is based on semi-structured interviews with farmers and crop protection experts as well as on qualitative data from a survey among Swiss farmers. Using practice theory to analyze our data, we identify the meanings, materials and competences in farmers’ practice narratives. From our analysis, five types of routinized crop protection practice emerge, revealing a picture of diversity, also in their responses to current incentive-based agri-environmental policy instruments. This diversity cannot be accommodated by a one-size-fits-all policy approach but rather requires a balanced mix, for example of command-and-control instruments, financial incentives and extension services.