The Generic Herbicide Industry: A Global Production Network Analysis
Main researchers
Marion Werner
Researchers
Christian Berndt, Becky Mansfield, Ryan Galt and Annie Shattuck
Summary
This study investigated transformations in pesticide production and trade, and the relationship between these changes and pesticide regulation. The project focused on herbicides, a class of pesticides used to control yield-depressing weeds. Herbicide use has risen rapidly, especially in middle-income countries, but little was none about the supply-side dimensions of this change. The project lies at the intersection of human geography, globalization studies, and political ecology. Drawing on these three fields advances understanding on the relationship between supply chain restructuring and social dimensions of environmental change in agriculture. The project achieved three goals:
1) to map pesticide and herbicide production by country and by firm network;
2) to develop three middle-income country case studies – Argentina, Malaysia and Costa Rica — to determine how supply chain dynamics shape firm strategies and the implications for national regulations; and
3) to determine the geography of regulations for the world’s most widely used herbicide (called glyphosate, commercialized under the name RoundUp).
Funding
US National Science Foundation
Duration
2020 – 2024
Results
The study advanced theory by applying supply chain analysis to an agricultural input, the first study of this kind in geography. Observed changes in pesticide trade patterns reflects a set of cascading effects of the rise of China and India as producing countries. Three out of four pesticide active ingredient plants are located in countries outside of traditional production centers in Western Europe, the US and Japan. Active ingredient may be formulated by these same firms or exported for formulation elsewhere.
Analysis of company-specific data along with industrial policies reveals that the distinction between R&D firms associated with patented products versus companies specialized in generics has become blurred. All regional markets are now dominated by generic pesticides. This new landscape of agrichemical production, trade, and regulation leads to increasing toxicity of agriculture as dependence on bulk, older, generic agrichemicals deepens, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
The project also innovated a novel method to add, update and/or replace pesticide use estimates for 137 countries by combining supply chain analysis with advanced trade statistics. The resulting Global Pesticide Use and Trade (GloPUT) database shows pesticide use in low and lower-middle income countries had been substantially underestimated.
Over the last decade, global pesticide use grew 20% by volume; use in low-income countries grew by 153% over the same period. GloPUT estimates more accurately reflect social science findings on recent agrichemical supply chain restructuring and agrarian development, which indicate substantial increases in pesticide use facilitated by the availability of low-cost generic products. The project improved pesticide use data for academic and policy communities.
Results from GloPUT were shared via direct outreach to scholars working on estimating pesticide risk, among non-governmental organizations working on pesticide issues, and with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Agri-Environmental Statistics division.