European Pesticide Tax Schemes in Comparison: An Analysis of Experiences and Developments
1
Institute for Food and Resource Economics, University of Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany
2
Agricultural Economics and Policy Group, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Manuel González de Molina and Gloria Guzman
Sustainability 2016, 8(4), 378; https://doi.org/10.3390/su8040378
Received: 16 February 2016 / Revised: 3 April 2016 / Accepted: 11 April 2016 / Published: 16 April 2016
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agroecology at the Crossroads: Challenges for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems)
Policy measures are needed to reduce the risks associated with pesticides’ application in agriculture, resulting in more sustainable agricultural systems. Pesticide taxes can be an important tool in the toolkit of policy-makers and are of increasing importance in European agriculture. However, little is known about the effects of such tax solutions and their impacts on the environment, farmers, and human health. We aim to fill this gap and synthesize experiences made in the European countries that have introduced pesticide taxes, i.e., France, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The major findings of our analysis are: (1) overall, the effectiveness of pesticide taxes is limited, but if a tax on a specific pesticide is high enough, the application and the associated risks will be reduced significantly; (2) in all countries, hoarding activities have been observed before a tax introduction or increase. Therefore, short-term effects of taxes are substantially smaller than long-term effects; (3) differentiated taxes are superior to undifferentiated taxes because fewer accompanying measures are required to reach policy goals; (4) tax scheme designs are not always in line with the National Action Plan targets. Low tax levels do not necessarily lead to a reduction of pesticide input and differentiated taxes do not necessarily lead to fewer violations of water residue limits.
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Keywords:
pesticide tax; national action plan; pesticide risk indicator; integrated pest management; Sweden; Denmark; Norway; France
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MDPI and ACS Style
Böcker, T.; Finger, R. European Pesticide Tax Schemes in Comparison: An Analysis of Experiences and Developments. Sustainability 2016, 8, 378. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8040378
AMA Style
Böcker T, Finger R. European Pesticide Tax Schemes in Comparison: An Analysis of Experiences and Developments. Sustainability. 2016; 8(4):378. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8040378
Chicago/Turabian StyleBöcker, Thomas; Finger, Robert. 2016. "European Pesticide Tax Schemes in Comparison: An Analysis of Experiences and Developments" Sustainability 8, no. 4: 378. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8040378
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