Esther Devilliers will defend her PhD in front of the following jury:

• Jean-Paul Chavas (University of Wisconsin), referee
• Stéphane Auray (ENSAI), referee
• Robert Finger (ETH Zurich), examinator
• Salima El Kolei (ENSAI), examinator
• Sabine Duvaleix (Agrocampus Ouest), examinator
• Alain Carpentier (INRAE), supervisor

Abstract

Cropping management practices is an agronomic notion grasping the interdependence between targeted yield and input use levels. Subsequently, one can legitimately assume that different cropping management practices are associated with different production functions. To better understand pesticide dependence –a key point to promote more sustainable practices– one has to consider modelling cropping management practices specific production functions. Because of the inherent interdependence between those practices and their associated yield and input use levels, we need to consider endogenous regime switching models. When unobserved, the sequence of cropping management practices choices is considered as a Markovian process. From this modelling framework we can derive the cropping management choices, their dynamics, their associated yield and input use levels. When observed, we consider primal production functions to see how yield responds differently to input uses based on the different cropping management practices. Thus, we can assess jointly the effect of a public policy on input use and yield levels. In a nutshell, in this PhD we are aiming at giving some tools to evaluate the differentiated effect of agri-environmental public policies on production choices and on the associated yield and input use levels.