OptiRePS – exploring options to reduce pesticide use in arable production at farm-level

Baden-Württemberg has committed itself by law to halving applied chemical-synthetic pesticide quantities by 2030. For farmers and policy makers alike, it is key to understand the farm economic trade-offs of pesticide reduction. However, information about reduction options is scattered over many data sources and not easily combined into a coherent basis for decision-making. We present a browser-based tool and interactive workflow that enables farmers, farm advisers, policy makers, and other stakeholders to explore optimal pesticide reduction plans and their consequences for specific farm holdings. The prototype has been successfully applied and evaluated on three test farms. The tool does provide information and decision support to farmers and helps stakeholders to understand the economic trade-offs of pesticide reduction policies at practical farm level. It can be incorporated into an interactive modeling campaign that involves farmers and farm advisors in simulation-based policy analysis of pesticide reduction policies.