Sustainable intensification of beef production in Colombia—Chances for product differentiation and price premiums

Abstract

To promote the adoption of more sustainable cattle production systems in Colombia (mainly silvopastoral systems with improved forages), some sector stakeholders have proposed the development of differentiated, higher value beef products. However, there have been no rigorous estimations of local market potential and consumer preferences for these hypothetical products yet. On the other hand, while there are clear efforts concerning the environmental impacts of cattle production, its animal welfare implications have taken a secondary place. This research attempts to evaluate the consumer's response to both the environmental and animal welfare aspects of more sustainable food systems by (i) determining the characteristics of a consumer segment for sustainably produced beef using contingent valuation methods and (ii) estimating the marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for animal welfare compliance and the environmental benefits derived from sustainable intensification within the identified consumer segment, employing a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE). In addition, the study estimates the effect of information on consumer's MWTP for environmentally friendlier beef. Results show that consumers within the identified segment are willing to pay on average 40.2% more for beef certified with both animal welfare and eco-friendly standards, with an increase of nearly 10% after being provided with information of the sector's environmental impacts. These findings support some of the current climate change mitigation strategies in the national cattle industry while highlighting relevant opportunities and trade-offs in the context of a developing country.

The Effects of COVID-19 on Beef Consumer Preferences and Beliefs in Colombia: A Logit Model Approach

“…This is contrary to what was expected at the beginning of the pandemic, where long-term changes in consumer preferences and beliefs toward more sustainability, animal welfare or fair trade were projected for Latin America and Colombia (Burkart et al, 2020;Sullivan and Amos, 2020;Trujillo, 2020). It also could affect the pre-COVID-19 efforts of the agriculture and livestock sector in Colombia, which were strongly oriented toward the development of sustainable products with price-premiums (Charry et al, 2018(Charry et al, , 2019Ruden et al, 2020). No clear differences were found in relation to sociodemographic variables.…”

Promoting Forage Legume–Pollinator Interactions: Integrating Crop Pollination Management, Native Beekeeping and Silvopastoral Systems in Tropical Latin America

“…As a company business model or through the integration of smallholder seed producers Support of sustainable intensification (scaling), standardization of seed quality, provision of habitats for pollinators (ecosystem services), employment creation, opportunities for women and rural youth (preventing migration to cities) organization of both cattle and seed producers could help in facilitating credit access and coordination of investment efforts. Likewise, the development of payment schemes for ecosystem services, incentives or new value chains with differentiated products (e.g., sustainable beef, honey) (Charry et al, 2019) could contribute to financing such investments at the farm level.…”

Microdata analysis of Japanese farmers’ productivity: Estimating farm heterogeneity and elasticity of substitution among varieties

“…Some studies on farm size–productivity relationships examine variations in productivity among farms (e.g., Muyanga & Jayne, 2019; Sumner, 2014); many others measure only average productivity and ignore productivity heterogeneity among farmers. A rich literature on product differentiation (Charry et al., 2019; Deselnicu et al., 2013; Maynard et al., 2004; Norris & Cranfield, 2019; Slade et al., 2019) has studied price premiums for specific product attributes (e.g., branding and organic production processes) but does not link those price premiums to farm heterogeneity on the supply side. Aside from those sector‐wide studies, descriptive case studies such as Carter et al.…”