Can reducing technical inefficiencies of pesticides achieve environmental impact targets? The case of Dutch arable farms

Abstract Farmers manage each type of pesticide differently, given the varying risks they address. As both damage-abating and polluting inputs, we have incorporated their negative impacts into a non-parametric framework to estimate the technical inefficiency of different pesticides and environmental inefficiency of Dutch arable farms from 2011 to 2021. Results suggest that farmers are more efficient in using insecticides rather than fungicides, herbicides and other pesticides, and have a higher potential to reduce negative pesticide impacts on aquatic organisms compared to soil organisms. However, even with full efficiency, the vast majority of farmers would not meet acceptable pesticide impact levels that are seen as sustainable in the long run.