The “not-so-modern” consumer – considerations on food prices, food security, new technologies and market distortions

Although food quality and food safety issues seem to dominate discussion and research in Europe, price inflation and economic recession may pose questions over food abundance over the coming years. For the first time since the early seventies, market stability for a number of commodities is seriously questioned. The paper tackles the fluctuation of food prices in the last decade and the reasons behind recent record prices in a series of commodities, trying to investigate whether food shortages may create new problems, even for relatively economically stable nations. Lowering stock levels that induce price volatility, production shortfalls due to adverse conditions that are often correlated to climate change, oil prices, changing diet patterns in regions that have become more affluent in recent decades, trade policies that often contradict one another, financial speculation in food markets all play a distinct role forming today’s reality. The effect of rising food prices is crucially important, at the microeconomic level, for poorer households. The paper tries to investigate whether food security problems -in the sense that all people, at all times, have economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life- may become increasingly important in Europe in the future, as well as the necessary policies to protect those most vulnerable.food insecurity, biofuels, food prices, market distortion, financial speculation, Agricultural and Food Policy,

Potential on Using Cultural Syndromes for Explaining Differences in Attitudes in Northern and Southern EU Countries

Nowadays, it is more realistic to view the development of a new technology as a result of a complex social system of interactions and decisions. Understanding the public's range of views on biotechnology is important for decision makers, in order to be able to anticipate potential acceptance problems or, one step further, to take consumer or public desires and concerns into account so that desirable applications can be developed. Previous work from the same research group, using data from Eurobarometer surveys, was trying to explore the attitudes of the European consumers towards genetic modification of food. Emerging differences in attitudes towards genetically modified food have not been explained adequately in most cases using only sociodemographic variables. In addition strong national differences lead to the idea that cultural differences should also be taken into account, despite the difficulties in formulating specific hypotheses that can be tested empirically. In this paper, in an effort to approach culture in a more clear way, we try to track down and analyse the specific units (customs, traditions, beliefs, and other social norms) that comprise cultures. The notion of cultural syndromes as approached by Triandis is tackled. Furthermore applying data from the European Social Survey (ESS) to Schwartz's value system, our objective is to validate empirically the potential utilisation of Schwartz values to further explain existing differences in attitudes towards GM food among European countries. Further research can lead to a deeper and more precise understanding of cultural differentiation as well as to a more valid cross-cultural theory of attitude formation.attitudes towards genetically modified food, attitude formation, cultural differentiation, cultural syndromes, Consumer/Household Economics,

Sociodemographic and subjective belief reasons for inter-EU differences of attitudes towards genetically modified food

'Modern biotechnology is a central issue in the public debate as there are still concerns about possible adverse effects deriving from the use of genetically modified organisms. The public, by influencing decisions on new biotechnology, politically through democratic channels or interest groups, but also as consumers via the market, will constitute the ultimate judge of agricultural biotechnology. The present research paper deals with attitudes towards genetically modified food (GM foods) in the European Union and their change over a given time period, using survey data of the Eurobarometer of 1999 (EB 52.1) and 2002 (EB 58.0). The analysis mainly focuses on the 2002 data trying to explain national differences of attitudes towards GM foods. In a first step, an overview of all European member countries concerning their attitude towards genetically modified (GM) food products in general will be provided. A more detailed approach is applied on selected countries, namely Greece, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. In addition, an effort to explain differences in attitudes towards GM foods through cross-cultural differences will be made using data from the European Social Survey (ESS, 2002).' (author's abstract)

The “not-so-modern” consumer – considerations on food prices, food security, new technologies and market distortions

Although food quality and food safety issues seem to dominate discussion and research in Europe, price inflation and economic recession may pose questions over food abundance over the coming years. For the first time since the early seventies, market stability for a number of commodities is seriously questioned. The paper tackles the fluctuation of food prices in the last decade and the reasons behind recent record prices in a series of commodities, trying to investigate whether food shortages may create new problems, even for relatively economically stable nations. Lowering stock levels that induce price volatility, production shortfalls due to adverse conditions that are often correlated to climate change, oil prices, changing diet patterns in regions that have become more affluent in recent decades, trade policies that often contradict one another, financial speculation in food markets all play a distinct role forming today’s reality. The effect of rising food prices is crucially important, at the microeconomic level, for poorer households. The paper tries to investigate whether food security problems -in the sense that all people, at all times, have economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life- may become increasingly important in Europe in the future, as well as the necessary policies to protect those most vulnerable

Using Value Priorities to Explain Differences in Attitudes towards Genetically Modified Food

During the last few years the public has become in general more ambivalent towards new technologies and while expecting technological innovation to make their life better, they still old concerns about possible adverse effects deriving from the use of these technologies. The present paper offers a comparative approach on two European member countries concerning attitudes towards genetically modified food. The paper focus on values because previous research has shown that socio-economic factors can only partially explain differences in attitudes towards genetically modified food. Strong national differences lead to the idea that cultural differences should also be taken into account. Following the approach of Schwartz, the scope of this research paper is to analyse cultural priorities concerning genetically modified food at the individual level. Using data collected in Germany and Greece, the suitability of values to express continuous processes of cultural and individual changes is explored in relation to genetically modified food

Comparing Consumer Attitudes towards Genetically Modified Food in Europe

As biotechnology evolves new methods of genetic engineering are now being applied to the production and processing of foods. This paper is trying to explore the attitudes of the European consumers towards genetic modification of food. Using survey data of the EU member countries the proposed research paper is planned to have a threefold output: 1) providing a comparative ranking of the EU member countries in relation to the prevalence of rejection of genetically modified food, 2) uncovering intra-european differences in genetic food engineering rejection as being based on socio-demographic and informational resp. knowledge based differentials between EU countries and 3) specifying the importance of socio-economic and informational determinants of a potential defender of genetically modified food by estimating the partial effects of age, gender, education, income, family status, size of household, knowledge on genetical food engineering and information use behavior in a multivariate model of the attitudes towards genetically modified food. This causal approach will be followed in selected EU countries representing extreme positions in the EU attitude ranking. By these empirical results the paper is trying to reveal intra-EU differentials of consumer attitudes towards genetically modified food, which is a necessary baseline for adequate and efficient policies in order to satisfy consumer needs for quality and security. The results will also prove helpful to the food industry providing differential information for marketing decisions and focusing adjustments in different EU food markets

Potential on Using Cultural Syndromes for Explaining Differences in Attitudes in Northern and Southern EU Countries

Nowadays, it is more realistic to view the development of a new technology as a result of a complex social system of interactions and decisions. Understanding the public's range of views on biotechnology is important for decision makers, in order to be able to anticipate potential acceptance problems or, one step further, to take consumer or public desires and concerns into account so that desirable applications can be developed. Previous work from the same research group, using data from Eurobarometer surveys, was trying to explore the attitudes of the European consumers towards genetic modification of food. Emerging differences in attitudes towards genetically modified food have not been explained adequately in most cases using only sociodemographic variables. In addition strong national differences lead to the idea that cultural differences should also be taken into account, despite the difficulties in formulating specific hypotheses that can be tested empirically. In this paper, in an effort to approach culture in a more clear way, we try to track down and analyse the specific units (customs, traditions, beliefs, and other social norms) that comprise cultures. The notion of cultural syndromes as approached by Triandis is tackled. Furthermore applying data from the European Social Survey (ESS) to Schwartz's value system, our objective is to validate empirically the potential utilisation of Schwartz values to further explain existing differences in attitudes towards GM food among European countries. Further research can lead to a deeper and more precise understanding of cultural differentiation as well as to a more valid cross-cultural theory of attitude formation

Following the Open-Source Trail Outside the Digital World: The Case of Open-Source Seeds

In this article, we assess the application of the open-source development model in the field of agricultural research and development, as a potential tool for upholding both public scientific research, and farmer-led innovation and farmers’ rights. First, we provide an overview of the problems associated with the rise of IPRs in agriculture in view of global challenges such as food security and environmental sustainability, and present the debate on farmers’ rights, including its rationale and international policy and legal responses. We then review open source initiatives in the digital domain, including successes and shortcomings, and offer our understanding of relevant terminologies. We explore the parallels between software development and innovation in agriculture and review ongoing open-source agriculture-related initiatives. We particularly address the potential for open-source systems to address existing asymmetries in capabilities and contribute to global challenges such as food security