Pesticide Supply Chains From China to Australia: Examining Paraquat Amid the Global Pesticide Complex

Rogers, Sarah;Zhao, Yue;Graham, Sonia;Wilmsen, Brooke;Wang, Zoe Ju-Han

Abstract

Following recent calls to deepen understanding of the Global Pesticide Complex, this article delves into the China-to-Australia supply chain of a single herbicide—paraquat. First released in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, acutely toxic paraquat is now primarily produced in China. It is widely used in Australian broadacre farming, where, in response to the growth of no-till cultivation and rising herbicide resistance, it is used as a ‘double knock’ strategy with glyphosate. Through interviews and secondary data collection on the China-to-Australia paraquat supply chain, we connect upstream and downstream processes, examining the three nodes of production, distribution and use. We find a complex and at times slippery materialisation of the Global Pesticide Complex enabled by cheap Chinese formulations but also profoundly shaped by Australia's regulatory politics, specific farming practices and environmental conditions.

Journal

Journal of Agrarian Change

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Journal of Agrarian Change

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1471-0366

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Blackwell Publishing

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DOI

10.1111/joac.70098