Health Attitudes, Environmental Attitudes and Vegetable Consumption

According to World Health Organization a diet high in vegetables may reduce the risk of coronary heart diseases, stroke, and certain types of cancer. In addition, vegetables have lower carbon footprints than most other foods. But what is the most important motivation to consume vegetables? Is it health or is it climate and the environment? The main objective in this paper is to find drivers behind vegetable consumption, with emphasis on health and environmental motivation.  To analyze the connection between individual's attitudes towards the climate, environment and health and the frequency of vegetable consumption we used survey data from 2015. The individual attitudes are hidden but through questions regarding perceptions and behavior the attitudes may be retrieved. We constructed latent variables to represent measures of environment and health attitudes. These latent variables were included in an econometric model linking attitudes with frequency of vegetable consumption. We applied the model to test for differences in frequencies of vegetable consumption for individuals with little and high degree of environmental and health consciousness. The main results show that health is a stronger motivator for vegetable consumption than environmental consciousness

Consumer cohorts and the demand for meat and dairy products

Over their life course, people change their consumption habits when prices, income, tastes or nutritional needs change. The time period during which an individual grew up is often reflected in his or her consumption of different types of food. To investigate the possible links between demographic changes and food consumption, we constructed two-step censored demand systems for different groups of foods. We estimated the systems using Norwegian data for the 1986 – 2012 period. In the systems, age, period, cohort, other demographic and economic variables are included. The estimated systems are used to construct a long-run forecasting model for meat and dairy products. In this model, younger cohorts replace older cohorts with a different consumption pattern. The total purchases of beef, lamb, pork and fluid milk are predicted to decrease, while the total purchases of chicken, yoghurt and cheese are predicted to increase towards 2027

Potential demand for synthetic meat

The demand for meat products is rising globally. A potential substitute for meat is synthetic meat, meat produce d in the laboratory. Synthetic meat is not in the market yet due to high production costs and regulatory issues, but it will probably be available during the next decade. If cheap and popular it may crowd out the demand and production of farmed meat and herby affect farmers income. In this study we have used data from a choice experiment in Norway to construct price and income elasticities for synthetic meat with three different assumptions. The data shows that half of the population does not accept synthetic meat. They will not buy it whatever the price. The own-price elasticities were estimated to be in the interval [-0.47,-0.08] and the cross-price elasticities were in the interval [0.09,0.40]. The income elasticities were all close to 0. If these elasticities were valid in a situation in which synthetic meat is available on the market, we could infer that the market for synthetic meat is limited.publishedVersio

Unirea Poporului

Unirea Poporului. Blaj, 1919-1948

Individuals’ personality and consumption of organic food

This paper adds to the debate on sustainable food consumption by probing the relation between individuals’ personality and choice of organic foods. We make use of the Big Five personality model which consists of the personality traits: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional stability, and Openness to experience. The Graded Response Model, logistic regression models, and interval regression models are applied to explore the impact of personality on choice of organic food. Five hypotheses regarding the connection between personality and consumption of organic foods were tested using eight different models. The results indicate that Openness to experience is positively related, while Extraversion is negatively related, to the attitudes of organic foods. Some of the tests showed positive relations between Agreeableness and attitudes towards organic foods. In addition, individuals high in Conscientiousness have a lower willingness to pay for organic foods compared with conventional foods. The consequence of the connection between Openness to experience and organic food is that stakeholders may take this into account when planning strategies and methods to increase sales

Individuals' Personality and Consumption of Local Food Specialties

In studies of consumption of local food specialties individuals' personality are rarely included. In this article we want to expand and give nuances to the understanding of what characterizes these consumers and ask: Are there any common personality traits, or personal characteristics of these consumers?We make use of the Big Five personality model to unpack the relation between individual's personality and choices of local food specialties. This model consists of the following five personal traits: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience. These personality traits are hidden but through questions regarding behavior the traits may be retrieved. In order to construct latent variables to represent measures of these traits, we apply Item Response Theory (IRT). Socioeconomic variables are combined with personality traits in logistic regression models to find the connection between personality and choice of Norwegian local food specialties.The results show that in all models the latent variable Openness to Experience is a significant predictor for choice of local food specialties. This personality trait was one of the most important predictors in all the choices made by the individuals. Openness to Experience is characterized by fantasy, aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings, preference for variety, and intellectual curiosity

Perceived effects of climate policy on rural areas and agriculture: A rural-urban divide

Climate policies may have adverse geographically unequal socio-economic impacts that, if left unaddressed, may hamper their implementation. This paper examines factors explaining rural-urban perceptions of the effects of climate policy on agriculture and rural areas. The paper adds to current knowledge by jointly analysing socio-economic factors and factors describing the distinct role geographical locations play in shaping these perceptions. We conduct a novel statistical analysis utilising a large preference survey of the Norwegian adult population spatially matched at the municipality level with indexes capturing centrality and the relative importance, and, hence, vulnerability of agriculture to effects of climate change. Our analysis does not identify a principal conflict between the goals of climate policy, rural policy, and agricultural policy across geographical locations. Conflicts along the rural-urban gradient arise around the priority given to the three policy areas, and the concrete impact of climate mitigation measures on rural areas. Centrality more than agricultural properties explains the formation of resistance to policies. The policy process should therefore acknowledge rural concerns, and climate mitigation options should be more carefully designed to avoid further rural-urban polarisation.publishedVersio

Willingness to pay for urban agriculture in Oslo

Urban agriculture is increasingly recognized as an important sustainable pathway for climate change adaptation and mitigation, for building more resilient cities, and for citizens’ health. Urban agriculture systems appear in many forms – both commercial and non-commercial. The value of the services derived from urban agriculture, e.g. enhanced food security, air quality, water regulation, and high level of biodiversity, is often difficult to quantify to inform policymakers and the general public in their decision making. We perform a contingent valuation survey regarding four different types of urban agriculture in Oslo. The citizens of Oslo are asked about their attitudes and willingness to pay for non-commercial and commercial urban agriculture. The non-commercial agriculture consists of urban community gardens for the citizens and urban gardens for work training, education and kindergartens. On the other hand, the commercial urban agriculture consists of aquaponics and vertical production. Results show that the citizens of Oslo are willing to increase their tax payments to contribute to further development of urban farming in Oslo

The Value of Urban Farming in Oslo, Norway: Community Gardens, Aquaponics and Vertical Farming

Urban agriculture is increasingly recognized as an important sustainable pathway for climate change adaptation and mitigation, for building more resilient cities, and for citizens’ health. Urban agriculture systems appear in many forms – both commercial and non-commercial. The value of the services derived from urban agriculture, e.g., enhanced food security, air quality, water regulation, and high level of biodiversity, is often difficult to quantify to inform policymakers and the general public in their decision making. We perform a contingent valuation survey of four different types of urban agriculture Where the citizens of Oslo are asked about their attitudes and willingness to pay non-commercial (urban community gardens and urban gardens for work training, education and kindergartens) and for commercial (i.e. aquaponics and vertical production) forms of urban agriculture. Results show that the citizens of Oslo are willing to increase their tax payments to contribute to further development of urban farming in Oslo

Bærekraft i norsk jordbruksproduksjon. Kunnskapsstatus for videre analyser

Rapporten inneholder ei sammenstilling av kunnskap om status for miljømessig, økonomisk og sosial bærekraft i norsk jordbruksproduksjon og er svar på et oppdrag som NIBIO fikk fra Landbruks- og matdepartementet i november 2022. Bærekraft er operasjonalisert som jordbrukets evne til å vedvare. Det bestemmes igjen av om det drives på en måte som ikke kommer i konflikt med seg sjøl og sitt eget produksjonsgrunnlag og heller ikke med livsvilkår og ressurser for mennesker og hensyn til naturmiljøet utenfor sektoren. Det er også forutsatt at norsk jordbruk skal levere goder og tjenester i tråd med mål fastlagt i norsk landbrukspolitikk. Dette betyr ikke at konservering av status er et mål. Det kan tvert imot være slik at endringer nettopp er en avgjørende forutsetning for at jordbruket i Norge kan bestå og levere godt i all framtid. Dette skal analyseres i en etterfølgende del 2 av oppdraget. Hovedpunkt fra gjennomgangen av kunnskapskilder og ei sluttvurdering av status for bærekraft finnes i et sammendrag sist i rapporten.Bærekraft i norsk jordbruksproduksjon. Kunnskapsstatus for videre analyserpublishedVersio