Costs of preventive agronomic measures to reduce deoxynivalenol in wheat

Cereals are of major importance in human and animal nutrition, and the mycotoxin content is of great health and economic concern for the food sector and consumers. In Europe, Fusarium graminearum (FG) is the prevalent Fusarium species leading to Fusarium head blight on small grain cereals and contamination of grains by its main mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON). The present study assessed the costs of preventive agronomic measures to reduce the risk of DON contamination in wheat besides the use of fungicides. The abatement costs were calculated by linking actual data on wheat production costs and profits with assessments of DON contents based on results of the forecast model FusaProg for the period 2005–2011. Analysis revealed that ploughing was a relatively efficient measure to reduce DON risk compared with modifying crop rotation or growing a more FG-resistant wheat variety. Given a threshold value of 1·25 mg DON/kg wheat, a reduction of 0·1 mg DON was related to additional production costs of at least 2·5%. These economic findings are of relevance for farmers and policy makers in order to define sustainable production systems enabling both a high level of food safety and reducing the use of plant protection products.