Can we economically afford significant reduction in herbicide and nitrogen use ? Experimental evidence in real fields says, yes we can !

EAGESTAD INRA; In Europe, several policies to limit the environmental externalities of agrochemicals have been implemented in the past decade. Yet, herbicides and fertilizers consumed over this period either have remained fairly constant or have increased. One main reason is that the fear of potential indirect negative effects on food production, hence profits. However, recent empirical studies have failed to detect a positive correlation between agrochemical use intensity and both productivity and profitability. With the present study we investigated in real farming conditions the relationships between economic benefits and weed control and nitrogen input. Through an innovative factorial e…