Background and Scope

TRAPEGO is an SNSF-funded (Swiss National Science Foundation) Sinergia project with a duration of four years (2021-2025).

It deals with the sustainable transformation of Swiss agriculture in order to internalize negative externalities from pesticide use. This project is a truly inter- and transdisciplinary endeavor involving health and political scientists, agronomists, environmental scientists, decision and media analysts, and transdisciplinary scientists.

In this research, we follow the basic assumption that systematic, targeted, and timely evidence and information about pesticide exposure and risks, about alternative farm practices and policies has an impact on peoples’ attitudes towards pesticide use and regulation.

This is not a naïve assumption that (any type of) information can bring sustainable transformation. Previous research indicates that information and evidence indeed impacts peoples’ attitudes and preferences, but this is contingent on the type, timing, and novelty of the information, on the urgency of action needed, and the degree of affectedness of people. In pesticide-related research, there exists no systematic inventory of evidence sources and pathways, and no test what type of evidence might impact different stakeholders’ preferences.

For the first time, we systematically study the role of different types of evidence on diverse types of actors involved in Swiss agriculture with regard to their attitudes towards pesticide use and regulation.