In addition to this monthly newsletter, the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture publishes the American Journal of Alternative Agriculture , a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of research on alternative agriculture. It is a scientific forum for disseminating technical, economic, and social research findings about the character and requirements of alternative agriculture systems. A new report from the Wallace Institute helps readers understand and evaluate the economic predictions in studies about restricting the use of, or reducing the risks from, agricultural pesticides. The full implementation of last year's Food Quality Protection Act is likely to generate a new round of economic studies that attempt to predict the impacts on consumers and agricultural producers of the loss or restriction of certain pesticides, according to the report. Nonregulatory studies almost always focus only on the costs of pesticide reduction.
Farmers usually learn to cope with new regulations through innovative adjustments.
Current studies do not always put predicted costs in perspective. Statistics on the costs of pesticide reduction can be used misleadingly, when they could actually advance the cause of pesticide reduction. Current studies generally ignore the full range of policy alternatives. Economic impact research has focused largely on direct pesticide restrictions such as bans or cancellations. The report also makes recommendations for researchers analyzing pesticide reduction strategies who are trying to clarify the scope and inherent limitations of their work.