Changing Consumer Buying Habits in Developing Countries: A Disaggregate Demand Analysis for Fruits and Vegetables in Vietnam

Food systems in developing countries are currently undergoing a rapid transformation, with important implications for local farmers, wholesalers, and retailers. While supply side aspects of this transformation have been analyzed previously, issues of consumer demand have received much less attention. This paper analyzes changing consumption habits for fresh fruits and vegetables in Vietnam, using household survey data and a demand systems approach. Demand for products from modern supply chains particularly modern retailers and non-traditional imports is highly income elastic. Also, supermarket expansion impacts on consumer demand. This implies a continued restructuring of the food sector in the further process of economic development.transformation of food systems, supermarkets, food safety, non-traditional imports, South-East Asia, Vietnam, Demand and Price Analysis,

Hedonische Analyse von Milchpreisen auf Einzelhandelsebene: Qualitäts-, Siegel- und Markeneffekte

Trinkmilch wird auf der Einzelhandelsebene zunehmend als Produktkategorie zur Differenzierung  verwendet. Ein hedonisches Preismodell mit einem Datensatz von 362 Preisbeobachtungen aus 46 lokalen Einzelhandelsmärkten und Online-Stores wird verwendet, um Preiseffekte verschiedener Qualitätsfaktoren, Labels und Marken zu schätzen. Weidemilch und Biomilch haben signifikante positive Preiseffekte, wenn andere Faktoren isoliert werden. Die Label-Effekte sind deutlich niedriger als Markeneffekte. Siegel müssen stärker mit den Instrumenten einer erfolgreichen Markenpolitik geführt werden, um ihren Preiseinfluss zu erhöhen

Hahnenküken von Legehühnern sollen leben! Und was machen wir dann mit den Hähnen? Zahlungsbereitschaft für Hahnenfleischprodukte unter Berücksichtigung des Informations-Framings

Eine angemessene Zahlungsbereitschaft für Fleischerzeugnisse von Legehybrid- oder Zweinutzungshähnen ist ein wichtiger Aspekt, um diese innovativen Konzepte der Legehennenhaltung wirtschaftlich tragfähig zu machen. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Auswirkung von Informations-Framing auf die Zahlungsbereitschaft für Fleischprodukte dieser Hähne. Das multiple lineare Regressionsmodell zeigt, dass sich ein hedonistisches Framing signifikant positiv auf die Zahlungsbereitschaft der VerbraucherInnen auswirkt. Im Gegensatz dazu beeinflussen die Einstellungen der VerbraucherInnen zur Tötung der Eintagsküken die Zahlungsbereitschaft nicht

Attitude changes through speed-dating conversations between farmers and citizens

Alienation between farmers and citizens has increased with agriculture’s intensification and specialization infood supply-chains. More direct and equal dialogue formats are called for. Our research aim is to analyze towhat extent a specifically designed dialogue format contributes to attitude changes among farmers and citi-zens. In a speed-dating format between farmers and citizens short conversations were organized. Attitudeswere measured before and after the conversations. Fact-based and personal statements within the conversa-tion were identified by quantitative content analysis. Our results indicate that the mid-term effect of speed-dating induced attitude changes was influenced more by fact-based aspects and less by personal aspects.Keywords: speed-dating, farmer-citizen-dialogue, attitude change, dyadic communication, trust buildin

Personality traits of German livestock farmers: Are there differences according to the production system?

Decisions made by farmers can have large influences beyond the farm boundary because farmers are the firstlink in the food supply chain. For this reason, understanding their decision-making behaviour may be of interestto all stakeholders of food systems. Since there is considerable evidence that personality traits may affectdecision-making behaviour, this paper investigates personality traits according to the HEXACO model ofpersonality in a sample of 244 German livestock farmers. Our results indicate that livestock farmers differ intheir personality from the general population, with farmers scoring higher on honesty-humility,conscientiousness and being more emotionally stable. Comparisons within the farmer sample show thatorganic livestock farmers score higher on Openness than conventional farmers. However, the results of aconfirmatory factor analysis suggest that the German version of the short item scale used to measure thepersonality traits of the sample should be partially modified. Even though our results should therefore beunderstood rather as first indications and a basis for further research, they could help to better align supportstrategies, e.g. for more animal-friendly production, with the personality traits of farmers

Responsible Innovation in Layer Poultry Farming: Are Organic Consumers Sufficiently Informed about the Current Situation of Killing Day-old Male Chicks to Contribute to the Innovation Process?

Currently, there is no societal consensus on the handling of male chicks in layer poultry farming. When searching for responsible innovation in the face of ethical concerns due to the killing of these day-old male chicks, consumers as main stakeholders should be involved in the innovation process. However, participation in the innovation process requires sufficient knowledge of the current situation and its alternatives, since only this knowledge allows informed judgments. In order to gain insights into consumers’ knowledge and attitudes regarding the alternatives of rearing the male chicks, we conducted 146 tablet-aided standardised personal interviews with customers of a German organic butcher’s shop, as consumers of organic food may be a target group for cockerel products. The results reveal the respondents’ profound disapproval about the current situation of killing day-old male chicks, but also show a considerable lack of knowledge. We conclude that comprehensive educational work is necessary to enable consumers to form a sound opinion and to participate in the innovation process

Market failures in supplying animal welfare: some conceptual thoughts for future research

Providing adequate levels of farm animal welfare is a challenge in today’s societies. Economic research shows that neither market valuation for credence attributes in opaque markets, nor transparency improved market valuation with labelling schemes, nor non-market valuation in hypothetical markets to take account of non-use values, nor non-monetary valuation in an ethical context will suffice to provide adequate levels of farm animal welfare. Monetary and non-monetary valuation problems stem from the complex concept of farm animal welfare and ethical challenges in utilitarian and anthropocentric approaches. Animal centred valuation of farm animal welfare is suggested as one future venue of economic research requiring to leave behind speciesism

Emotional response to pictures of farm animals: Influence of picture content and recipient characteristics

Pictures play a dominant role in communication about livestock farming. They are used by competing lobby groups not only to inform their audience cognitively but also to target emotionally. However, few studies have looked at the effects pictures from livestock farming have on recipients. In this study, we used an online survey to investigate the emotional response in the dimensions pleasure and arousal to pictures showing farm animals of the animal classes fish, birds, and mammals in different circumstances. The results show that pictures depicting farm animals in an outdoor environment led to high pleasure and low arousal. Looking at pictures showing animals kept indoors led to less pleasure and higher arousal, a response that was further intensified when recipients were confronted with pictures of suffering animals. While the recipients’ characteristics investigated in this study, i.e. professional background, belief in animal mind and personality traits, had no influence on emotional response to pictures showing farm animals outdoors, they affected emotional response to pictures depicting farm animals indoors and suffering. We discuss how awareness of the individuality of emotional response and reflection on one’s own emotional states related to livestock farming might lead to more animal and human welfare and a more respectful dialogue between opposing groups

Applying the HEXACO Model of Personality to German Livestock Farmers: Item Scale Validation, Personality Structure and Influence on Participation in Livestock Certification Schemes

Decisions made by farmers have impacts beyond the farm boundary, because farmers are the first link in the food supply chain. For this reason, understanding their decision-making behaviour may be of interest to all stakeholders of food systems. Since there is considerable evidence that personality traits may affect decision-making behaviour, we investigated personality traits utilising the HEXACO model of personality in a sample of 244 German livestock farmers. Based on comparisons with data obtained from existing literature that investigated the HEXACO personality traits using community samples and with preliminary data from an own community sample, we found that the livestock farmers differed from the general population. The farmers had higher scores in Honesty-Humility and Conscientiousness and were more emotionally stable. Results of a multinomial logistic regression model showed that personality traits influenced farmers’ decisions to participate in particular livestock certification schemes. While high Conscientiousness increased the probability of participating in conventional animal welfare schemes, high Openness to Experience facilitated participation in organic schemes. However, the results of a confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the German version of the short item scale used to measure the personality traits of the farmer sample should be partially modified. Even though the results should be understood rather as first indications and as a basis for further research, our findings extend the understanding of farmers’ personality and provide information on underlying factors of farmers’ decision-making related to participation in livestock certification schemes. They could help to better align support strategies, e.g. for more environmentally and animal-friendly production, with the personality of farmers

Market and Institutional Limits in Supplying Animal Welfare: some Conceptual Thoughts for Future Agricultural Economic Research

Providing adequate levels of farm animal welfare is a challenge in today’s societies. Economic research indicates that neither market valuation for credence attributes in opaque markets, nor transparency improved market valuation with labelling schemes, nor non-market valuation in hypothetical markets to consider non-use values, nor non-monetary valuation in an ethical context are suitable to capture the value dimensions of farm animal welfare adequately. Monetary and non-monetary valuation problems stem from the complex concept of farm animal welfare and ethical challenges in utilitarian and anthropocentric approaches. Animal centred valuation of farm animal welfare is suggested as one future venue of economic research conditioned on overcoming speciesism