Food System Dynamics (E-Journals)
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Sustainable Consumption and the Attitude-Behaviour-Gap Phenomenon - Causes and Measurements towards a Sustainable Development
Get PDFThe phenomenon of the deviation between purchase attitudes and actual buying behaviour of responsible consumers is called the attitude-behaviour gap. It is influenced by individual, social and situational factors. The main purchasing barriers for sustainable (organic) food are price, lack of immediate availability, sensory criteria, lack or overload of information as well as the low-involvement feature of food products in conjunction with well-established consumption routines, lack of transparency and trust towards labels and certifications. The last three barriers are mainly of a psychological nature. Especially the low-involvement feature of food products due to daily purchase routines and relatively low prices tends to result in fast, automatic and subconscious decisions based on a so-called human mental system 1, derived from Daniel Kahneman’s (Nobel-Prize laureate in Behavioural Economics) model in behavioural psychology. In contrast, the human mental system 2 is especially important for the transformations of individual behaviour towards a more sustainable consumption. Decisions based on the human mental system 2 are slow, logical, rational, conscious and arduous. This so-called dual action model also influences the reliability of responses in consumer surveys. It seems that the consumer behaviour is the most unstable and unpredictable part of the entire supply chain and requires special attention. Concrete measures to influence consumer behaviour towards sustainable consumption are highly complex. Reviews of interdisciplinary research literature on behavioural psychology, behavioural economics and consumer behaviour and an empirical analysis of selected countries worldwide with a view to sustainable food are presented. The example of Denmark serves as a ‘best practice’ case study to illustrate how sustainable food consumption can be encouraged. It demonstrates that common efforts and a shared responsibility of consumers, business, interdisciplinary researchers, mass media and policy are needed. It takes pioneers of change who succeed in assembling a ‘critical mass’ willing to increase its ‘sustainable’ behaviour. Considering the strong psychological barriers of consumers and the continuing low market share of organic food, proactive policy measures would be conducive to foster the personal responsibility of the consumers and offer incentives towards a sustainable production. Also, further self-obligations of companies (Corporate Social Responsibility – CSR) as well as more transparency and simplification of reliable labels and certifications are needed to encourage the process towards a sustainable development
Analysis of Shellfish Growing Areas of Alabama, Florida and Georgia, USA - Using the Pearl Shellfish Sanitation Model
Get PDFAccording to the United States (U.S.), National Shellfish Sanitation Program (NSSP) standards, the shellfish growing areas in modeling, shellfish sanitation, water quality, shellfish closure rules the U.S. must be closed for harvest when the estimated 90th percentile of fecal coliform concentrations exceeds the NSSP limit of 14/43 Most Probable Number/100 mL (NSSP, 2009, NSSP, 2011). Pearl is a model that identifies harvest areas at risk for fecal coliform contamination (Conte and Ahmadi, 2012). Once the risk areas are identified, the Aquarius model can be used to adjust closure rules (Conte and Ahmadi, 2011). In multi-state analyses using the Pearl model, we have developed a hypothesis that state agencies are inadvertently applying the model's Pearl Limit of 8/26 MPN/100 mL in place of the NSSP limit of 14/43 MPN/100 mL for a 5-tube test to guard against shellfish-related illnesses (Conte and Ahmadi, 2012; 2013; 2014). The datasets used to develop the hypothesis were from Oakland Bay, Washington (Pacific Northwest), Arcata Bay, California (Pacific Northern California), and seven shellfish bays of the Texas Gulf Coast (Western Gulf of Mexico). The main purpose of this paper is to test this hypothesis using different datasets from shellfish growing areas in the states of Alabama (Eastern Gulf of Mexico), Florida (Eastern Gulf of Mexico and south Atlantic Coast) and Georgia (South Atlantic Coast), all located in the southeastern United States. An additional objective is to use the state’s datasets in Pearl analyses to detect the shellfish growing areas that pose a possible health risk to shellfish consumers during some period
Supply Chains of Products of Animal Origin: A Complex Network Model for Strategic Management
Get PDFDue to the dynamic evolution of food chains during the past years, currently available chain models are no longer able to meet the needs of operators. This article introduces a model for chain analysis which is used in an analysis of the supply chains of the entire Italian production of Animal Origin which constitute a complex network in which the actors of the agro-food system operate. The new model is innovative for two reasons: it represents many supply chains of products of animal origin from different productive species in a single model and, in addition, allows to represent the complexity of the chain network
The communication of CSR activities via social media A qualitative approach to identify opportunities and challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises in the agri-food sector
Get PDFWithin this paper we analyze a state-of-the-art type of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication, communication via social media. This type of communication with stakeholders is of growing importance. Opportunities and challenges of communication through social media channels are identified with special emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the agri-food sector. 8 expert interviews were conducted on the basis of a broad literature review. The results of the qualitative interviews are analyzed by means of a comprehensive computer aided qualitative content analysis. The study enables the reader to get insights into the current situation regarding the implementation of CSR communication through social media channels in SMEs. Opportunities and threats of the application of social media are identified. The results are compared with relevant findings from literature
Macroeconomics and the Nexus between Energy and Agricultural Commodities Prices
Get PDFThe variation of energy prices has been a traditional source of shocks to the real economy. In many cases, this variation has manifested in jumps in energy prices that were characterized by some persistence. From another perspective, energy price volatility has historically been noted and its effects on real economy debated. Historically, the importance of the shocks to the real economy has led them to be labeled as energy crises, as they were argued to have resulted in substantial changes in real prices that induced changes in behavior on the demand and supply sides of the many markets. However, empirical studies of transmission of energy prices into the real economy have produced no consensus and have been challenged by a number of significant specification issues that have resulted in substantial variation in inference drawn from results. Among these issues is the question of completeness of model specification. This paper examines the question of whether such models need to incorporate macroeconomic indicators. Clearly, macroeconomic factors such as interest rates and exchange rates play a role in the determination of energy and commodity prices, however, considerable specification uncertainty characterizes the question of which macro metrics to incorporate. This paper examines this issue from the perspective of weak exogeneity and finds evidence that the parameter estimates associated with time series models that exclude consideration of macro indicators are not compromised by their exclusion. We examine this issue using Italian, U.S. grain, and Brent crude oil prices
Moving towards Sustainability in Food Chains: Dealing with Costs and Benefits
Get PDFSustainability concerns are receiving increasingly attention by society and in turn, the food sector and consumers as the food sector’s final customers. Investments towards improvements in sustainability along the chain are usually not evenly distributed along the chain which affects the balance in the distribution of costs and returns. Transparency is a means for supporting an appropriate link between costs and returns. Various alternatives are being discussed. The chapter utilizes a case study approach for elaborating on the possibilities of regaining costs through price premiums, the communication of sustainability to consumers and the cooperation through horizontal and vertical networking alternatives that could support developments towards sustainability through gains in efficiency and concerted engagements in dealing with sustainability, costs and returns along the chai
Shelf life extension and food waste reduction
Get PDFWaste is a significant problem in food supply chains. There is potential for spoilage of food products at any stage of the supply chain when the products reach their “best before” or “salable date”. As a key to the food waste problem, there is a trend towards developing shelf life extension solutions that are intended to allow products not only to last longer but also to improve their quality and nutritional benefits.The objective of this study is to explore whether shelf life extension actually results in the expected reductions of food waste. This issue is motivated by potential problems related to complexity in supply chains and consumer behavior.The study is based on a comprehensive literature review and empirical findings from several studies of the structure and functioning of food supply chains undertaken by a food research institute.This work concluded that the relation between shelf life extension and food waste reduction does not appear to be straightforward. Complex consumption behavior (e.g. shopping in larger volume results in longer storage periods at households), in combination with long supply chains and several storage points, implies that shelf life extension may not guarantee consumption before products have reached the “best before date”. Another important factor is the increasing demand for so-called “fresh products”, which may lead to the perception that products with longer shelf life are considered less fresh.This study has shown the need to more closely investigate the effects of various measures (such as shelf life extension) that are applied to reduce food waste. To that end, it would be beneficial to develop a method to investigate and monitor the effectiveness of proposed shelf life extension solutions for the purpose of food waste reduction with a holistic system perspective. This would also help policymakers in their decision-making process as well as solution providers to improve the effectiveness of such solutions. With this perspective in place, the effectiveness of such solutions could be improved. This would also help policymakers in their decision-making process
Criteria for a transparent assessment of carbon footprints in the food supply chain
Get PDFOur daily consumption patterns have a major influence on climate change. Several European initiatives use CO2-labels for products to provide guidance for climate friendly consumption decisions. Different methodological details affect the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions (CO2-e) being labeled. A standardized method is needed to generate comparable results. The objective of this study conducted at the Institute for Marketing and Innovation of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, was to identify the key methodological criteria for transparent assessment of the carbon footprint of food products. Expert interviews and content analyses were the methodological approach applied. Current carbon footprint standardization processes have to meet the challenge of meeting both scientific accuracy and practicability in order to enable comprehensive implementation in management practice
Are animal welfare aspects of relevance in consumers’ purchase decision?
Get PDFRecurring reports on animal husbandry conditions as well as the maltreatment of animals during transport to slaughterhouses in the last years increased public concerns about animal welfare conditions showing the need to act for all stakeholders throughout the meat supply chain (e.g. Bánáti, 2011). As a consequence animal wel-fare has become one of the priorities on the agenda of politicians (see the coalition agreement in 2013; CDU et al., 2013), consumer policy and protection agencies and is intensively discussed in the private sector as well as in academia. In Germany, in particular the ‘Initiative Tierwohl’ continuously gains in importance and in 2013 for the first time an EU animal welfare label was established.However, the increasing stated interest in animal welfare is not yet reflected by sales figures in the meat mar-ket. In literature different reasons addressing multiple levels of the topic are discussed for this discrepancy (e.g. Hartmann et al., 2014). One factor is the lack of a universally accepted definition and understanding of animal welfare due to its multidimensional character (Lagerkvist and Hess, 2014). Another reason is the potential so-cial desirability bias which occurs to different extent depending on the survey method used to elicit the prefer-ences of the actors.Therefore, the aim of the present study is to get deeper insights into first, consumers’ understanding of animal welfare by identifying the relevant aspects of animal welfare in consumers’ decision making process while pur-chasing meat. Second, we use two methods to assess the relevance of animal welfare issues for consumers when thinking about the purchase of meat to quantify the extent the different survey methods construct sur-vey results rather than elicit consumer preferences.For this purpose an online survey with N = 926 participants was conducted in July 2012. The investigated meat products were chicken and pork cutlet. Consumers’ preferences for different product attributes were meas-ured via a questionnaire as well as by an individualized Information Display Matrix (IDM). As to the first research question, the results indicate that with respect to animal welfare aspects the one of especially high relevance to consumers is animal husbandry conditions while e.g. slaughtering or feeding is of lower importance. The results also indicate that animal husbandry conditions are much more relevant for consumers when thinking about the purchase of chicken cutlet compared to pork cutlet. With regard to the second question survey results show that respondents’ preferences obtained via questionnaire and IDM deviate to a considerable extent regarding the attribute price. While participants stated in the questionnaire that price is of minor importance, the analysis based on the IDM displays clearly that price plays a paramount role in consum-ers’ meat information search process. Thus, we see evidence that the two survey methods are prone to suffer to a different degree from the social desirability bias.The results can help policy makers, manufacturers and retailers as well as NGOs in promoting and selling meat produced according to higher animal welfare standards. Successful promotion of such products is only possible if there is a good understanding of the animal welfare characteristics important to consumers
Economic Dynamics of the German Hog-Price Cycle
Get PDFWe investigated the economic dynamics of the German hog-price cycle with an innovative ‘diagnostic’ modeling approach. Hog-price cycles are conventionally modeled stochastically—most recently as randomly-shifting sinusoidal oscillations. Alternatively, we applied Nonlinear Time Series analysis to empirically reconstruct a deterministic, low-dimensional, and nonlinear attractor from observed hog prices. We next formulated a structural (explanatory) model of the pork industry to synthesize the empirical hog-price attractor. Model simulations demonstrate that low price-elasticity of demand contributes to aperiodic price cycling – a well know result – and further reveal two other important driving factors: investment irreversibility (caused by high specificity of technology), and liquidity-driven investment behavior of German farmers