To investigate the impact of agricultural insurance on the overuse of pesticides and the reasons behind it, based on the 2020 China land economic survey data, this study measured the marginal productivity of pesticide application by rice farmers using an improved damage control production function. Then, an instrumental variable model was used to analyze the impact of agricultural insurance on farmers’ pesticide overuse, and the deeper reasons behind the impact from the perspective of the pesticide risk characteristics and risk sources were revealed. The results showed that: Most of the farmers in the study area had excessive pesticide application behavior from an economic point of view. Participation in agricultural insurance did not reduce the use of pesticides but exacerbated pesticide overuse to a certain extent. This effect was related to the risk-increasing effect of pesticide application in the study area because the risk of pest infestation was exceeded by the meteorological hazards faced during the growing period of crops. This study suggested that the governments should connect the amount of agricultural insurance subsidy with the type of agricultural production technology chosen, and provide guidance to farmers to adopt pesticide-reducing production technologies.
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