Chemistry and Psychology

Abstract

International audiencePesticides were initially developed as solutions to fight against the problems caused by pests and diseases. As a consequence, agricultural productivity and the area of cultivated land were largely improved. Yet the use of such substances was rapidly found to be a threat to the environment and indirectly to human health, and so in the past few decades, progress in the development of new pesticides has focused on more-targeted and less-toxic substances. The mode of agriculture has also evolved in more recent times, with an increasing tendency to move from conventional agriculture using phytosanitary products to organic agriculture without chemical agents. This article describes a study conducted with local farmers to understand their representation of pesticides and the reasons behind their conversion to organic agriculture or not