A sales-based approach to estimate pesticide uses at the territorial level
Abstract
The use of pesticides is a major issue for public health and the environment. They are found in food, water and air, resulting in exposure of humans, wildlife and ecosystems. While the monitoring of pesticides in food and water is well regulated, this is not the case in the air. Since atmospheric monitoring campaigns consistently detect pesticides, the key question is which substances dominate at specific times and locations. To investigate this issue, it is essential to combine physicochemical and climatic data with information on local pesticide use. However, such use data are often not freely accessible. The objective of this study is therefore to develop a sales-based approach to estimate pesticide use at the territorial scale. Using data from the French national Distributor Sales Bank (BNV-d), we developed a methodology to process pesticide sales by postcode and cross-reference them with agricultural land use and product authorizations from the national E-phy database. We tested this approach in Rennes metropolitan area (Brittany, France), which includes 43 municipalities and 38,843 ha of utilized agricultural area. Results for the 2021–2023 period showed a strong predominance of herbicides (≈12,000 kg/year), followed by fungicides (≈1,300 kg/year) and insecticides (<600 kg/year). Prosulfocarb, S-metolachlor, were the most sold substances. Non-agricultural uses represented < 0.2% of all sales. These findings appear broadly consistent with known agricultural practices in the area and with qualitative observations from atmospheric pesticide monitoring programs. Despite limitations inherent to using sales data as a proxy for actual application, this methodology provides a transferable framework that can be applied to other territories to support the prioritization of monitoring efforts.
Related
- MiCampo: A Multi-Level Digital Cooperative Infrastructure for Agroecological Planning, Participatory Certification and Territorial Market Coordination
- Weekly sales forecasting using time series decomposition with irregular seasonality: A case study of Sony TV sales in the United States
- Bark and Its Possible Uses
- Territorial African wood-doves respond differently to intruders with higher and lower frequency of songs
- Novel use of ink by territorial males in the coastal squid Heterololigo bleekeri.
BibTeX
@article{guillaume2026salesbased,
title = {{A sales-based approach to estimate pesticide uses at the territorial level}},
author = {K. Guillaume and Olivier Cesbron and O. Le Bihan and N. Bonvallot},
journal = {Environmental Advances},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1016/j.envadv.2026.100741},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05709935v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A sales-based approach to estimate pesticide uses at the territorial level
AU - K. Guillaume
AU - Olivier Cesbron
AU - O. Le Bihan
AU - N. Bonvallot
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/27
JO - Environmental Advances
DO - 10.1016/j.envadv.2026.100741
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05709935v1
AB - The use of pesticides is a major issue for public health and the environment. They are found in food, water and air, resulting in exposure of humans, wildlife and ecosystems. While the monitoring of pesticides in food and water is well regulated, this is not the case in the air. Since atmospheric monitoring campaigns consistently detect pesticides, the key question is which substances dominate at specific times and locations. To investigate this issue, it is essential to combine physicochemical and climatic data with information on local pesticide use. However, such use data are often not freely accessible. The objective of this study is therefore to develop a sales-based approach to estimate pesticide use at the territorial scale. Using data from the French national Distributor Sales Bank (BNV-d), we developed a methodology to process pesticide sales by postcode and cross-reference them with agricultural land use and product authorizations from the national E-phy database. We tested this approach in Rennes metropolitan area (Brittany, France), which includes 43 municipalities and 38,843 ha of utilized agricultural area. Results for the 2021–2023 period showed a strong predominance of herbicides (≈12,000 kg/year), followed by fungicides (≈1,300 kg/year) and insecticides (<600 kg/year). Prosulfocarb, S-metolachlor, were the most sold substances. Non-agricultural uses represented < 0.2% of all sales. These findings appear broadly consistent with known agricultural practices in the area and with qualitative observations from atmospheric pesticide monitoring programs. Despite limitations inherent to using sales data as a proxy for actual application, this methodology provides a transferable framework that can be applied to other territories to support the prioritization of monitoring efforts.
SN - 2666-7657
ER -