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Thursdau, November 9th 2023

Derya Keles (Inrae-Beta) will present “Weather shocks and pesticide purchases”,joint with François Bareille and Raja Chakir.

Abstract:

This paper investigates whether farmers adapt their pesticide use to cope with climate change. Using a unique, exhaustive dataset detailing pesticide purchases per zip code in France between 2014 and 2019, we econometrically explain pesticide purchases by weather during the growing season. We identify heterogeneous weather impacts across types of pesticides, seasons and locations. Our preferred estimates using average temperature indicate that a +1% temperature increase during the growing season leads to use additional +1.66% pesticides. Because our analyses suggest limited year-to-year pesticide storage and farmers' adaptation along other margins, we interpret these estimates as causal weather impacts on pesticide use.