A Hedonic Analysis of Herbicides: Do User Safety and Water Quality Matter?

Farmers may value water quality and user safety characteristics of herbicides as they select among products to obtain weed control. Expenditures per application in the U.S. corn and soybean herbicide markets are explained by several safety characteristics in addition to market and weed control characteristics. The explicit inclusion of safety characteristics in the farm decision model indicates that not all safety aspects of pesticide use are external to farmers. Leaching potential and user toxicity are statistically significant, but their elasticities are small relative to broadleaf and grass weed control efficacy.

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