Organic consumers’ preferences and willingness‐to‐pay for locally produced animal products

Abstract

In Germany, a large share of organic animal products is being produced with imported protein feedstuffs. Products labelled as ‘local’ are also often produced with imported feed. At the point of purchase, animal products are not usually labelled with any information on the feed that was used to produce it. Therefore, it remains unclear what consumers think about the use of imported feed, in particular in the case of products labelled as ‘local’. The aim of the present research study was to analyse whether the use of local feed represents an option for successful product differentiation in the organic animal products market. Discrete Choice Experiments and computer assisted personal interviews were conducted with 597 organic consumers in Germany to investigate their preferences and willingness‐to‐pay for local organic animal products produced with local feed. The choice experiments revealed a strong preference for local feed. The outcome of our investigation also shows that the provision of information on feed imports into Germany can be an important tool for promoting organic animal products produced with local feed. The results suggest the use of local feed could be an option for successful product differentiation in the organic animal products market, especially if effort is put into raising consumer awareness of current organic feed importation practices.

Urban Chinese Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Pork with Certified Labels: A Discrete Choice Experiment

“…For instance, Gracia (2014) found that Spanish consumers were prepared to pay 9% higher price for fresh lamb with a "locally grown" logo than without [25]. Wägeli et al (2016) revealed that German consumers were willing to pay a price premium of 41-56% for local organic animal products produced with local feed [26]. The rationale behind this motivation is that the production processes are often transparent to consumers and that the short transportation distance ensures the freshness of the foods [27].…”

“…The rationale behind this motivation is that the production processes are often transparent to consumers and that the short transportation distance ensures the freshness of the foods [27]. Another reason is that consumers are often included to support the local economy by purchasing foods produced locally [26]. However, a study in the Chinese context revealed that consumers were prepared to pay more for imported than domestic beef, although the willingness to pay for beef imported from countries suffered from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) outbreak was much lower [12].…”

Consumers’ expectations and willingness‐to‐pay for local animal products produced with local feed

“…Hempel & Hamm () found the same preference order for local food and Wägeli et al . () could likewise determine a higher preference for a local feed origin in comparison to a German feed origin. If all origin options (farm, local, German, EU) are added up, excluding the cases in which an individual chose two or three of these alternatives, the picture changes.…”

“…However, Wägeli et al . () found that there is a high potential demand and additional willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) for local food produced with local feed in Germany (Illichmann & Abdulai, ) and in Spain, France and the UK (Font I Furnols et al ., ). Further studies have indicated that consumers are interested in information about animal feeding (Stranieri & Banterle, ).…”

“…For this purpose, consumers will be surveyed throughout Germany. To our knowledge, this is the first study on this topic that is not limited to either a certain (organic) consumer segment (Wägeli et al ., ) or a small survey region within Germany (Uhl & Schnell, ) analysing four product categories (pork cutlets, beef steaks, milk, eggs). The WTP for local feed is measured by a direct price question.…”