PurposeThis study aims to examine the attitudinal inconsistency among Taiwanese consumers toward organic agriculture/food, and its relationship to their willingness to pay a premium and purchase for organic product.Design/methodology/approachA telephone survey consisting of 913 households was made to reach an estimated 3.3 percent sampling error with 95 percent confidence level.FindingsIt was found that those who were female, who had higher occupation prestige, who had college education levels, who were aged in their 40s, and who possessed an optimistic opinion toward the necessity of organic farming tend to pay a premium for and buy organic food. The majority of Taiwanese respondents showed a high level of concern about pesticides but a low trust in organic food, which revealed an attitudinal inconsistency toward organic agriculture/food. A multiple discriminant analysis with a moderating variable shows that consumers' trust in organic food and their pesticide concern jointly explain the respondents' willingness to pay a premium and purchasing behavior. The influence of consumers' pesticide concern on their willingness to pay a premium and purchase actually depends on their levels of trust.Originality/valueAs a whole, lack of trust and confusing organic product certification levels is the main barrier to Taiwan's organic agriculture development. Further communication and policy modification is needed to reinforce consumers' confidence in organic agriculture/food.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish an understanding of choices of organic food in relation to life course by taking into account of age and two indicators of diet-related identity, vegetarianism and healthful attribute preference for agricultural produce. The stated variables tend to reveal how consumer attitudes and consumption of organic produces relate to life course factors across diet-related identities and age groups. Design/methodology/approach – This study takes adult consumers of Taichung City in Central Taiwan as the target population. A survey data by personal interviews collected through systematic sampling of four supermarkets and one farmer’s market was employed to obtain a sample of 322 adult consumers in February, 2010. Findings – This study finds that the level of individual vegetarianism is significantly correlated with organic food attitude. Individuals who live with young children and possess healthful preference for agricultural produce demonstrate more positive attitudes toward organic food. In addition, being in poor health or taking care of acutely or chronically ill family members, living with a spouse, in favor of vegetarianism, and approval of healthful attributes in choosing agricultural produce all contribute to an individual’s intake of organic food. Along with age, living with young children is found to have joint effects in influencing an individual’s choice of organic food. Research limitations/implications – Since the stages of life is interwoven with various factors such as age, marriage, child-raising and other life events and spans a long period of time, the authors suggest that a longitudinal study may be carried out in future studies to reveal more detailed and valid information. The formation of life course indicators should be more specified to include all possible stages or conditions. Mixture of qualitative analysis with quantitative analysis, will be a better approach to obtain more detailed and meaningful information. Future studies should apply more complicated designs to obtain further theoretical implications. Practical implications – First, taking the family rather than individuals as the marketing unit is a more effective strategy for organic food marketers, producers and policy makers. Second, more educational activities or training events in food preparation that simultaneously target both parents and children at the same time should be held. Third, extension agencies of organic agriculture and organizations affiliated with vegetarianism should seek to establish more bilateral educational or commercial cooperation in order to strengthen the development of organic agriculture. Originality/value – Previous studies have rarely explored the issue of organic food choice and life course and its possible moderating effects with diet-related identity. In this survey of Taiwanese consumers, there are sufficient evidences to confirm the connection between life course factors and the consumption of organic produces, either by the figures of main effects or interaction effects.
Conventional alloys show low compressive strength and strain accommodation due to their propensity for limited strengthening mechanisms and rapid compressive instability. High‐entropy alloys (HEA) may overcome this limitation by metastability engineering. Inspired by this, herein, a dual‐phase Fe44Mn20Cr15Ni7.5Co6Si7.5 HEA (M‐HEA) which shows maximum engineering strength of ≈4.4 GPa at true compressive strain of ≈2.2 (engineering strain of 90%) in as‐cast condition due to controlled hardening and sustained softening response during deformation is presented. The controlled hardening phenomenon (up to 60% strain) is attributed to transformation‐induced plasticity in γ‐phase and nanotwinning in untransformed γ‐phase. The sustained softening is a result of extensive strain accommodation by both γ‐ and β‐phases via dynamic recovery in γ‐phase and shearing of β‐phase during deformation. Hence, this superformability in M‐HEA makes it an excellent material for structural applications in comparison with other conventional alloys and HEAs.
As a consequence of intensive maize mono-cropping practice on sloping lands in northern Thailand, Nan province, farmers face extremely low yields, soil erosion, and prolonged drought. Research and development efforts are needed to identify possible solutions, evaluate and scale them out to farmers. Consequently, an innovation platform has initiated a network of stakeholders, including farmers, government officers, researchers, and private sector actors, who meet regularly to coordinate the development of long-term solutions. Therefore, this study aims to identify which interests and goals are shared and which are conflicting among the various stakeholders involved in the Nan R4D platform, which was initiated as part of the Humidtropics project. Q methodology was employed, and 29 participants were selected from the R4D platform to conduct a Q-sort activity. The results showed that the two distinctive framings shared ways of thinking about research and development (R&D) and environmental issues. Additionally, participants’ interests and goals were diversifying agriculture, livestock promotion, growing vegetables, government aid, rubber plantation profitability, pesticide damage, deforestation, growing own food, and the possibility of growing maize sustainably. However, they disagreed on whether maize cultivation leads to food insecurity and high debt among farmers, and if planting fruit trees on sloping land is advisable. Ultimately, this study delivers agricultural stakeholders’ perspectives from the platform including recommendations on further potential policies for agricultural development in Nan.
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