The impact of climate change on aquatic risk from agricultural pesticides in the US

Agricultural pesticides have adverse impacts on water quality and aquatic species. These impacts are sensitive to climate because pest pressure and corresponding pesticide application rates vary with weather and climate conditions. In this paper, we investigate how climate change affects the acute and chronic toxicity risk to algae, daphnia, and fish from the ten most hazardous pesticides in twelve coastal states of the US. We combine climate change projections from the Canadian and Hadley climate model, statistically estimated dependencies of pesticide applications to climate and weather variables, and the environmental risk indicator REXTOX developed by the OECD. On average, we find that climate change is likely to increase the toxicity risk to aquatic species because of increased application of agricultural pesticides. Algae appear to be the most negatively affected category. Across five broad crop groups, pesticide use on fruits and vegetables contributes the most to increased aquatic pollution. Within the twelve coastal states, the highest impacts are found in Texas, Florida, California, South and North Carolina.climate change scenarios, agricultural pesticides, acute toxicity, chronic risk, aquatic species, marine environment, United States

Pesticide externalities from the US agricultural sector -- The impact of internalization, reduced pesticide application rates, and climate change

Pesticides used in agricultural production affect environmental quality and human health. These external costs can amplify due to climate change because pest pressure and optimal pesticide application rates vary with weather and climate conditions. This study uses mathematical programming to examine alternative assumptions about regulations of external costs from pesticide applications in US agriculture. We use two climate projections given by the Canadian and Hadley climate models. The impacts of the internalization of the pesticide externality and climate change are assessed both independently and jointly. We find that, without external cost regulation, climate change benefits from increased agricultural production in the US may be more than offset by increased environmental costs. The internalization of the pesticide externalities increase farmers’ production costs but increase farmers’ income because of price adjustments and associated welfare shifts from consumers to producers. Our results also show that full internalizations of external pesticide costs substantially reduces preferred pesticide applications rates for corn and soybeans as climate change.climate change impacts, pesticide externalities, farm management adaptation, agricultural sector model, welfare maximization, environmental policy analysis, mathematical programming, United States

The impact of weather variability and climate change on pesticide applications in the US - An empirical investigation

Weather variability and climate change affect the application of pesticides in agriculture, in turn impacting the environment. Using panel data regression for the US, we find that weather and climate differences significantly influence the application rates of most pesticides. Subsequently, the regression results are linked to downscaled climate change scenario the Canadian and Hadley climate change models. We find that the application of most pesticides increase under both scenarios. The projection results vary by crop, region, and pesticide.Climate change, weather variability, pesticide, regression, panel data, North America, US

Pesticide externalities from the US agricultural sector – The impact of internalization, reduced pesticide application rates, and climate change

AbstractThis study uses mathematical programming to examine alternative assumptions about regulations of external costs from pesticide applications in US agriculture. We find that, without external cost regulation, climate change benefits from increased agricultural production in the US may be more than offset by increased environmental costs. The internalization of the pesticide externalities increase farmers’ production costs but increase farmers’ income because of price adjustments and associated welfare shifts from consumers to producers. Our results also show that full internalizations of external pesticide costs substantially reduces preferred pesticide applications rates for corn and soybeans as climate change