Willingness-to-pay for Anjou pears with different conditioning treatments

Abstract

Ethylene treatment has proven effective in shortening the postharvest cold storage period required for Anjou pears to ripen. This allows Anjou pears to be marketed earlier in the season. To analyze ethyleneâ s effect on eating quality and elicit consumersâ preferences and values, three sensory tests plus stated preference experiments were conducted at different points in time after harvest. Results indicate that consumers were willing to pay a premium of $0.65/lb to have highly edible quality pears in the early season (10 days cold storage). This premium is for pears treated with ethylene to speed ripening. As the cold storage period increased (70 days and 169 days) the premiums for conditioned fruit decreased ($0.20/lb and $0.29/lb)