Abstract:
Wine producers use fungicides to secure their yields, generating well-known externalities for human health and the environment. Green insurance could be an innovative tool to help producers reduce fungicide use by managing associated economic risks: insured producers would receive a payment when a set of Integrated Pest Management practices results in yield losses compared to conventional farming. Such green insurance is not yet part of the EU pesticide policy toolbox nor is it marketed privately. Using a Discrete Choice Experiment, we investigate the best design and uptake determinants of green insurance by French wine growers, as well as its efficiency as a policy tool for fungicide reduction. Between 45% and 58% of the wine growers are likely to subscribe to green insurance, with differences across contract types and prices. Farmers transitioning to organic certification are more interested in the contract and all farmers exhibit lower interest for group contracts and index-based insurance. We estimate that adopters would reduce their fungicide treatment by 31% on average and a quarter of them can reduce their fungicide treatments by more than 55%. Fungicide reduction per euro of public subsidy is highest for non-organic producers, high fungicide users in low-fungicide use regions. Our results suggest that green insurance could be a cost-effective tool to advance the ambitious pesticide policy goals.

Co-écrit avec Yann Raineau (INRAE), Cécile Aubert (Univ. Bordeaux), Niklas Möhring (Wageningen University and Research), Pauline Pedehour (Univ. Angers) and Marc Raynal (IFV).