Pesticide safety risk, food chain organization, and the adoption of sustainable farming practices. The case of Moroccan early tomatoes

Fresh produce pesticide safety risk has grown into a major concern of North European consumers and governments for the last twenty years. Our study expands on safety control issues and gives insights into how fresh vegetable chains organize to comply with retail private safety standards and thus get access to export and modern domestic markets. Most studies on the adoption of good agricultural practice certifications and integrated pest management overlook the influence of food chain organization. Building on Transaction Cost Economics, our paper aims to fill this gap by studying the influence of vertical linkages, more precisely the incentives and managerial procedures crafted by packing stations in order to control farmers'behavior and manage the pesticide safety risk. Two surveys have been conducted to that purpose in the Moroccan SoussMassa-Drâa region. Our first survey of thirty tomato packers provides only mixed results about our first hypothesis: that the more the supply chain is integrated (from contracted growers to full ownership) the more the control of pesticide safety risk is achieved through direct supervision rather than outcome-based incentives. Our second survey of 86 producers confirms that integrated chains are more efficient in safeguarding specific investments in safety management, which results in greater diffusion of biocontrol and good agricultural practice certification within the greenhouses that are owned by private packers rather than independent farmers.