Food System Dynamics (E-Journals)
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Displaying Sustainability Relatlatlated Information on Meals - The Role of Design and Information Depth from a Consumer's Perspective
No full textFood labels are able to support consumers in making more sustainable food choices in out-of-home consumption situations. Thereby, the effect of changing consumption behaviour depends on the format of food labels and on the information it provides. In order to assess the importance of the amount of information as well as the design of food labels displaying sustainability aspects, we test different formats of food labels using a best-worst choice design. So far, no research tested a variation of information depth while keeping label designs fixed. We find clear preferences across both dimensions. Results indicate that consumers regard labels with a higher information depth as more helpful in order to choose a sustainable meal. For the label design it became obvious that the slider-design is preferred over footprints and traffic light label design
Exploring a New Form of Horizontal Coordination to Improve Economic Sustainability of the Soft Wheat Chain in the Northwest of Italy
Get PDFThe Italian legal framework for the agricultural sector has recently introduced a new form of contract, the “network contract”. The aim of this study is to verify if the use of this new contract would be appropriate to facilitate the adoption and diffusion of sustainable innovation of an Italian agri-food chain and to strengthen the agricultural role with dealing food processing companies. We focus on Piedmont, an Italian region where a soft wheat supply chain is in continuing evolution but is still very fragmented; indeed the two Producers Organization and one Consortium specialized in grain storage and trade only work around 30% of the grain produced annually. Following the framework of transaction cost we carried out a survey using semi-structured interviews as a qualitative analysis tool to gather the opinions of the primary operators in the Piedmont soft wheat supply chain. Initial results suggest that there is still an unsatisfactory horizontal coordination in the supply chain and that the network contract still seems to be little known and appreciated. However operators of the production stage of the chain consider the goals of improving the quality of the wheat and the economic and environmental sustainability very important but they think it would be difficult to achieve them simultaneously
Determinants of Outsourcing Contracts in Agricultural Mechanization Services: the Brazilian Coffee Agribusiness Case
Get PDFThe Brazilian Coffee Agribusiness system has been modified over the last years. An evidence is the outsourcing contracts in agricultural mechanization of harvesting services. Brazilian coffee growers have replaced their own machineries for specialized services firms. The Coase (1937)'s make or buy paradigm sheds light the decision of farmers of the coffee chain with the investment lens. The investigation analyzes the determinants of outsourcing contracts in the transaction of harvesting mechanization in the agribusiness system of coffee in Brazil based on a quantitative approach through a probit regression with 105 Brazilian coffee growers’ interviews. The results validated the path dependence aspect and the hypothesis of the asset specificity and uncertainty of the efficient alignment argument of the Transaction Cost Economics, pointing out the high level of education of the farmer and the adoption of contracts as a way of coordinating other transactions as determinants of the outsourcing contracts of the transaction of harvesting mechanization. The study brought a change in coffee grower’s profile to a modern pattern of decision-making with three different institutional arrangements for the transaction of harvesting mechanization: total vertical integration, tapped vertical integration and outsourcing contracts or only outsourcing contracts
Do South African Consumers have an Appetite for an Origin-based Certification System for Meat Products? A Synthesis of Studies on Perceptions, Preferences and Experiments
Get PDFThe introduction of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) type certification schemes in countries outside Europe is a recent phenomenon as the philosophy of origin based foods obtains global traction. It is therefore interesting to understand whether consumers in these countries have a similar appreciation for these certification schemes and whether they are willing to pay a premium if the origin of the product is guaranteed. The Karoo Lamb case in South Africa provides an ideal opportunity to explore this question. At the same time the paper illustrates that the results and interpretation of consumer studies are sensitive to the methodology applied. We illustrate this argument by benefitting from a range of consumer studies that was undertaken over a period of five years in order to understand the South African consumers’ perceptions about the Karoo region and their preferences and willingness to pay for the meat product from the Karoo. The studies which we compare and synthesise in this paper used different techniques such as perception analysis; stated preference methods (through a conjoint analysis); and a range of revealed preference methods including, an experimental auction and a retail store experiment. In essence the paper synthesises and compares the results from the different studies and illustrates how different techniques bring different results and conclusions. We then try to establish whether there is consistency in the results across methods to help us getting to a conclusive position on the consumer value of this product. From these results we are able – in a more comprehensive way - to tell whether PDO-type products are likely to be of value to South African consumers
Food Scares: Reflections and Reactions
Get PDFThe aim of this study is to investigate consumers’ reflections and reactions to a food scare news story. Previous studies indicate that risk communication not always is able to influence people’s behavior and that pre-existing attitudes may influence people’s reactions and reflections. In this study, we investigate how consumers critically reflect and emotionally react to a food scare, here defined as risk communication that spirals public anxiety over food safety incidents, and leads to an unwanted escalation in media attention.Fall 2014, a researcher from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said in a newspaper interview that she never touched chicken with her bare hands. This interview was the beginning of a media storm, which resulted in a dramatic drop in sales of chicken. In this study, we explore a small group of consumers’ reflections and reactions to this news article. Data from five focus group interviews with Norwegian consumers of chicken were transcribed, content analyzed, and coded, before we conducted a multiple correspondence analysis and a hierarchical cluster analysis in JMP Pro 12. The findings indicate that consumers do reflect when confronted with a food scare story. Some question the research behind the news, others compare the food scare’s danger to other risks. Even though consumers do reflect around the facts in the food scare article, their emotions seem to affect their behavior more systematic than their reflections
The Economic Cost of Climate Change and the Benefits from Investments in Adaptation Options for Sri Lankan Coconut Value Chains
Get PDFAgriculture in low latitude countries such as Sri Lanka is already operating at the maximum temperature limits for crop growth and face increased production risk from expected climate change. Sri Lanka is a developing country with limited economic and technological capacity to develop adaptation strategies; hence more vulnerable to climate change than developed countries. Coconut (Cocos nucifera L) is a rain fed perennial crop important in Sri Lankan culture, food consumption and the economy. It is the second most important food in the Sri Lankan diet after rice. Several studies have examined the impact of climate change on Sri Lankan agriculture, but none were conducted to simulate the impact of future climate change and future adaptation strategies on coconut production, or to calculate the economic welfare effects for different stakeholders in the coconut value chain. In this paper we report the development of an economic model of the coconut value chain that allows prediction of welfare impacts, and a quantitative representation of coconut yield that allows the impact of changing climatic conditions on yield. The average outcome of 16 climate models was used to generate future climatic conditions, with two future climatic scenarios for 2020, 2030 and 2050 considered for three production regions. The most important yield estimate was a yield decline of more than 10 percent in the wet zone with the expected increase of maximum temperature. Without extra adaptation measures this is predicted to result in a loss to the industry of 4,795 Rs.Million annually by 2020, which is nearly 4.7 percent of the total value of the industry at equilibrium. The negative impact of climate change has the potential to be reduced with the implementation of additional adaptation practices. However, the cost effectiveness of these practices needs to be considered in comparing the practices. Wider adoption of fertilizer application at specific times and moisture conservation practices are estimated to be economically beneficial
International Demand Shaping Governance Mechanisms in Brazilian Beef Agri-Systems: The Case of the Three Main Processors
Get PDFWhich specific investments do the industry and the cattle producers need for their coordination in order to meet the demands of the international market and participate in it? Insertion in the international market is a multifaceted and complex theme, which represents a challenge for the market and for the research in economy of organizations, because it focuses on the systemic coordination of a certain segment for the generation of value as an organizational strategy. Through critical observation of export sub-systems, their various institutional environments and their differences from internal issues can be considered central, as this leads to specific investments to operate in these markets in uncertain environments. This gap encourages and justifies this research, which aims to present and advance the concept of agribusiness system (SAG). Specifically, we sought to identify the observed regularities of the agents involved in these transactions — specific assets invested, degree of recurrence, degree of knowledge and adaptability — internal and to the external market and to compare them. Such an analysis seeks to delimit the institutional differences, the coordinating agents of the different strictly coordinated systems. Finally, to determine the boundaries of a typical system and one that meets specific demands and the need for coordination among the agents to serve them by focusing on systems geared to the international market. Through the methodology of multiple case studies, the three largest slaughter and processing industries in Brazil and their relationship with the farmers in relation to the Sub-System Strictly Coordinated (SSSC) for export to the European Union were addressed. Among the regularities of the case studies, the emergence of SSSCs for the internal market focused on quality resulting from the process of creation of the SSSC-exporter allowed to explore the degree of organizational tolerance of the arrangements of these companies. The cases also provided findings about organizational tolerance and the relation of specific investments and quality in the chain
Consumers’ Perspective on Dual-Purpose Chickens
Get PDFThe usage of dual-purpose chicken breeds is one of the discussed alternatives to prevent cockerel chicks of laying hens from being killed for economic reasons. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyse consumers’ perspective on dual-purpose chickens. To get an insight into the consumers’ perspective, we initially conducted six focus groups with German citizens focussing on chicken meat and egg preferences, perception of chicken farming and attitudes towards dual-purpose chicken breeds. The results show that most of the participants were aware of the killing of day-old chicks. However, alternatives were scarcely known. After giving the participants information about the dual-purpose chicken, they were generally in favour of this chicken breed. Some participants raised concerns regarding the economic efficiency and the higher product prices. For others, ethical values predominated. All in all, the results demonstrate that the discussants have specific expectation regarding a dual-purpose chicken
Food Chain Innovation: Reviewing 35 Use Cases to Identify Business Model Success Patterns
Get PDFA team of 8 organisations from Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands and Turkey supported over 40 teams and preferably startups to realise food chain innovations. Over a period of 2 years, a programme was developed and realised to select and support teams from the ideation to the commercialisation phase. The teams were usually working in close collaboration with a business partner, were supported in the usage of reusable software components for Internet based solutions and got direct assistance to address potential customers especially in the area of fruit and vegetables.Embedded in a larger initiative with use cases from different business domains, a set of metrics was developed to assess the teams and solutions that were characterised by different maturity levels, size and market potentials. The objective was to rank the teams for being able to focus support on the best performing solutions. Subsequently, it was discussed, if there are potential success patterns that could help to assess team performance at an earlier stage and possibly facilitate the forecasting of potential investment risks at an earlier stage. Finally, the objective is to use those results for being able to analyse and technologically assist future use cases that are currently set-up in the scope of a Large Scale Pilot initiative. The objective is to use the results for facilitating future selection of food chain innovations that could complement the set of 19 use cases currently being developed