The influence of pest management advice on pesticide use in California tomatoes

This paper uses survey data collected from tomato growers in California to determine the factors that influence pest control advisor participation and pesticide use recommendations. We find that advisor recommendations are dependent on the probability of infestation conditional on the calendar and on advisors' perceptions of growers' knowledge, while growers depend more on information obtained from observing their crop. We also determine that the pesticide use recommendations of advisors are, on average, higher than those of growers. Results demonstrate the incentives of grower and advisor pesticide use decisions that must be taken into consideration when regulatory policy is designed.