Dairy farmers’ preferences for reducing pesticide use: does workload matter? Evidence from a discrete choice experiment among dairy farmers in Brittany, France

Specialized dairy farms have a high workload, with most of their labor resources devoted to livestock-related tasks. The feasibility of reducing pesticide use is influenced by work dimensions. Using a discrete choice experiment, we assessed trade-offs among determinants that can hinder reducing pesticide use on dairy farms, particularly workload. The attributes of the experiment were the reduction in pesticide use, change in gross operating surplus, risk of yield loss, number of labor peaks during the year, skills and knowledge, and mental workload. 94 dairy farmers in Brittany (western France) were interviewed face-to-face. Three classes were identified: (1) 20 farmers expressed negative preferences for reducing pesticide use, and this class exhibited a higher workload, (2) for 21 farmers, reduction in pesticide use had no significant effect on preferences and those farms had the most intensive milk-production systems, and (3) 53 farmers were willing to reduce pesticide use, most of the farmers in this group were already involved in a pesticide-reduction program. An increase in the number of labor peaks without outsourcing and an increase in mental workload had a significant negative effect on all of the three classes. Public policies should address the work dimension of reducing pesticide use on particularly labor-intensive farms such as dairy farms.