Economic effects of pesticide use in precision farming

Takácsné György, Katalin

Keywords: pesticide emission, savings, competitiveness, sustainability

Advances in agricultural technology offer a wide range of modern technologies. One of these is precision pesticide use, which also serves to meet the requirements of sustainability. When used in practice, it results in appreciable savings of chemicals. I used model calculations to look at the economic aspects of potential savings at a macro-economical level. By switching to precision farming – in an optimistic scenario –, the same yield can be achieved by 340,000 tons less fertilizer and 30,000 tons less pesticide (at the current dosing level) in the EU-25. Assuming that 30 to 60% of farms switch to precision farming, the average savings on pesticide agents per farm in full-surface intensive technology can be estimated to reach 30-60%. If 10-35% less active ingredient is used while yields remain unchanged, environmental emissions in the national economy will also be reduced by 10 to 35%. In this case, personal benefits coincide with social benefits, which is a step towards sustainability. The spreading of any technology procedure in agriculture which has a positive impact on the preservation and regeneration of natural resources and can be implemented profitably at the farm level (economic feasibility) promotes sustainability. Additionally, the adoption of precision farming methods will also facilitate social sustainability by reducing pollution and by producing food, industrial base materials and fuels.

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