Agricultural Productivity and Biodiversity Effects: Theory and Evidence

Productivité agricole et effets sur la biodiversité: théorie et preuves

Chloé Antoine, Jean-Marc Bourgeon () and José de Sousa ()
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Chloé Antoine: CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique - ENSAI - Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse de l'Information [Bruz] - GENES - Groupe des Écoles Nationales d'Économie et Statistique - X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - ENSAE Paris - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique - GENES - Groupe des Écoles Nationales d'Économie et Statistique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris
Jean-Marc Bourgeon: X-DEP-ECO - Département d'Économie de l'École Polytechnique - X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris, UMR PSAE - Paris-Saclay Applied Economics - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement
José de Sousa: LEMMA - Laboratoire d'économie mathématique et de microéconomie appliquée - Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas

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Abstract: Agricultural specialization maximizes land use efficiency but it also amplifies pest pressure, thereby requiring heavy pesticide use. This paper evaluates the economic benefits of reducing specialization to leverage natural pest control. We develop a model in which the resilience of a farmer's field is endogenous to the crop and pesticide choices of neighboring farmers. We account for both within-crop and between-crop cross-field externalities. Using global data on 40 crops and 41,820 counties, we estimate the impact of these externalities on crop productivity with novel instrumental variables. Our results show that maintaining a high diversity of crop species at the county level significantly increases yields of major crops like maize, rice, and wheat.

Keywords: ecosystem services; pest control; crop diversity; biodiversity; crop yield (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-11-03
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05344177v1
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