Consumer Acceptance of Food Biotechnology

Abstract

Using data from a national survey, this study examines public acceptance of food biotechnology by modeling consumers' willingness to buy genetically modified foods. Empirical results suggest that younger, white, male and college educated individuals are more likely to accept food biotechnology. However, consumers' views about scientists and biotechnology companies, and their trust and confidence in government regulators, have greater impacts on their acceptance of genetically modified foods than their economic and demographic attributes. Overall, consumers view food biotechnology as a risk-benefit issue rather than an ideological issue. There is some evidence of regional differences in the acceptance of bioengineered food products.     

Valuing Consumer Perceptions of Olive Oil Authenticity

Nowadays, while the authenticity of agri-food products becomes a major concern for consumers, given the increasing rate of food fraud reports across the world, olive oil records the highest adulterations. The high selling price of olive oil is the main reason for conducting adulteration, which is often caused through false indications on the packaging (mislabeling). On the other hand, consumers are well aware of the alteration, and they are looking for authenticity signals during the purchase process. Authenticity, therefore, becomes an evaluation and decision-making criterion that guides consumer choices. The aim of this paper was twofold: to highlight the attributes in which Greek consumers attach great importance during the evaluation of olive oil’s authenticity, and second, through consumers’ demographic segmentation, to gain more detailed knowledge about the attributes that consumers evaluate in olive oil authenticity. CUB (Covariates in a mixture of Uniform and Binomial random variables) models are employed for the interpretation of ordinal data due to the ability of comparing and clustering the rating distributions consumers express about olive oil features, and due to the ability of detecting significant similarities and differences in consumer responses. Moreover, with the introduction of respondents’ social, demographic, and financial characteristics, CUB models allow the measurement of the influence that the consumers’ profile has upon the attributes of olive oil authenticity. The results showed that consumers attached great importance to taste, acidity, country and region of origin, olive variety, color, organic production, and regional certification in the evaluation of olive oil authenticity. In addition, secondary school graduates tend to use taste and olive variety, also indicating confidence in the authenticity of organic olive oil.     

Consumer Welfare and the Livestock Economy in the United States

This paper analyzes the responsiveness of the U.S. meal and poultry economy to government policies and other exogenous shocks. In particular, it focuses on the measurement of changes to consumer welfare. An explicit econometric model represents the supply of fed beef, non-fed beef, pork, and poultry. The interaction between the livestock and feed grain markets is captured by an econometric model of the supply and demand for corn. Consumers are represented by a complete system of consumer demand equations. The model is used for a partial analysis of the welfare effects of an actual agricultural policy decision – the sale of large quantities of grains to the Soviet Union in the third quarter of 1972. The loss to consumers that is attributable to the increased grain exports did not reach its maximum until the second quarter of 1975. It is estimated that from 1973 to 1975 consumers suffered a reduction of meat consumption that they valued at $4.5 billion (U.S.). Furthermore, the effects of grain exports proved far larger than the losses due to the poor harvests of 1973 and 1974. Finally, attempts to shelter consumers from the effects of the increased corn exports, either by increased beef imports or increased grain price supports, would have had little success in compensating for the welfare loss actually suffered. Ce papier fail ?analvse de la réponse des secleurs de ?économie quant au bétail et à la volatile aux Flats-Unis, leur reponse à la politique gouvernementale et à?aulres coups exterieurs. En particulier, ce papier se concentre sur la mésure des changements au bien-étre des consommateurs. Un modèle économélrique qui est explicite représente ?approvisionnement du boeuf brouiè, du boeuf non-broutè, du pore el de la volatile. Lcar;action réciproque entre le marché de bélail et ie marché de grains est monlré par un modèle economelrique de ?offre et de la demande pour mats. Un système des équations représente la demande des consommateurs. On utilise le modèle pour ohtenir une analyse parlielle des effeis en ce qui concerne le bien-étre des consommateurs par suite ?une décision faite ?une politique agricole – celle de la vente de grandes quantités de grains à?Union soviétique au troisième quartier de ?année 1972. Laperte aux consommateurs qui est imputable aux exportations augmentées de grain n'apas alteinl son maximum jusqu'au deuxième quartier de 1975. On a eslimé que de 1973 à 1975 les consommateurs ont essuyé une réduction de la consommation de viande qu'ils ont evaluée à$4.5 milliard (en dollars des Etats-Unis). En outre, les effeis des exponations de grain se sont révélés bien grands que les effets des moissons maigres de 1973 el 1974. Finalement, des efforts de protéger les consommateurs contre les effets des exportations augmentees de maìs, ou par des importations augmentees de boeufou par augmenter le soutien pour le prix du grain auraient eu peu de succès à remplacer les pertes en fait essuyées.     

Cooperatives and the Commodity Political Agenda: A Political Economy Approach

Historically, major agricultural cooperatives in Canada have been intimately involved in commodity policy issues. Large cooperatives were created because farmers were upset about the perceived lack of competition in buying farm inputs or selling farm outputs. Often, the resulting cooperative was the organization farmers saw as the logical organization to represent their view of commodity policy or competition policy. As cooperatives grew and diversified, the ability to represent their members coherently across policy issues was hampered. For processing cooperatives in the supply-managed sector, the requirement that the cooperative be the political arm of industry, process product, and provide maximum returns to producer members made for a complicated objective function. This paper focuses on the twin objectives of providing efficient member services and performing political lobbying in a public choice framework. The results are illustrated by the recent history of a supply-managed further-processing cooperative and a diversified grain cooperative.     

Trade and the Political Economy of Food Standards

This article presents a political economy model of public standards in an open economy. We use the model to derive the political optimum and to analyse different factors that have an influence on this political equilibrium. We analyse the relationship between trade and the political equilibria and compare the political outcome with the social optimum to identify under which cases political considerations lead to standards being set ‘too low’ or ‘too high’, and which standards could be labelled as protectionist measures.     

Do Voluntary Biotechnology Labels Matter to the Consumer? Evidence from the Fluid Milk Market

This article examines the effects on the demand of voluntary labeling for the use of genetically modified growth hormone for retail fluid milk using supermarket scanner data. Retail fluid milk tracks one of the first biotechnology products approved, is fairly standardized and ubiquitous, and allows for cross-sectional differentiation between labeled and unlabeled products and between conventional and organic brands. The results indicate that voluntary labeling increases the demand for recombinant bovine growth hormone free milk. In addition, the estimated effects of labeling appear to have increased over time.     

Consumer Acceptance of Camel Milk in Emerging Economy

Abstract

Camel is considered as an indispensable part of desert eco-framework across the globe. Apart from helping in transport, it is also used for its milk. Camel's milk is used worldwide because of its salty taste. However, it has many beneficial effects such as cure for autism and helps to control diabetes, allergy, and also prevents liver cirrhosis. Objective of this study is to analyze the ways to make people purchase and consume camel milk. In the last few years, awareness about nutritional and medicinal benefits of camel milk has rapidly increased. Consequently, the demand of the product has also increased. Objective of this article is to analyze the consumers’ willingness to buy camel milk before and after knowing its health benefits. It also explores the linkage between lifestyle diseases and consumer’s willingness to buy. We analyzed data in two stages. Initially, we did qualitative analysis with twitter text mining to understand customer’s sentiments about camel milk. Later, primary data was collected through structured questionnaire from a sample of 120 respondents by convenience sampling for quantitative analysis. There is a significant increase in the proportion of people willing to buy camel milk and once they were aware of the benefits, people are willing to buy more after knowing the benefits. People exposed to lifestyle diseases are more willing to buy camel milk. Hence, support of market-based awareness campaigns to stimulate demand for quality camel milk among consumers can be realized through information dissemination and awareness campaign.     

Canadian Consumer Responses to BSE with Heterogeneous Risk Perceptions and Risk Attitudes

The objective of this study is to quantify the impact of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) on Canadian household meat‐purchasing behavior, distinguished by varying risk perceptions and risk attitudes. Using panel data from 2002 to 2007 and a survey conducted in January 2008, households are clustered by the survey respondent's risk perceptions and attitudes toward beef. For each cluster, two‐stage meat demand systems are constructed, incorporating the demographic characteristics of the households and BSE media coverage. The analysis for the entire panel and for each of the clusters suggests that beef risk attitudes and perceptions do affect household‐purchasing behavior. Households with lower willingness to accept the risks of eating beef have more elastic beef demand and more willingness to substitute beef for other meats as compared to the household clusters with higher willingness to accept the risks of eating beef. BSE media coverage has stronger negative influences on households with lower willingness to accept the risks of beef. Across the entire sample, beef demand is more responsive to media coverage of BSE after the May 2003 domestic BSE case. La présente étude vise à quantifier les répercussions de l’ESB (encéphalopathie spongiforme bovine) sur le comportement d’achat de viande des ménages canadiens, selon la perception du risque et l’attitude à l’égard du risque. À l’aide de données de panel de 2002 à 2007 et d’une enquête réalisée en janvier 2008, nous avons groupé les répondants selon leur perception du risque et leur attitude à l’égard du risque liéà la consommation de b?uf. Pour chaque grappe, nous avons élaboré des modèles de demande de viande en deux étapes qui intègrent les caractéristiques démographiques des ménages et la couverture médiatique de l’ESB. L’analyse du panel et de chaque grappe autorise à penser que l’attitude à l’égard du risque et la perception du risque liéà la consommation de b?uf influencent le comportement d’achat des ménages. Les ménages qui sont moins disposés à accepter le risque liéà la consommation de b?uf affichent une demande de b?uf plus élastique et sont plus enclins à substituer le b?uf par d’autres viandes comparativement aux ménages qui sont plus disposés à accepter le risque liéà la consommation de b?uf. La couverture médiatique de l’ESB a une influence beaucoup plus négative sur les ménages qui sont moins disposés à accepter le risque liéà la consommation de b?uf. Dans tout l’échantillon, la couverture médiatique de l’ESB après la découverte du cas d’ESB au Canada en mai 2003 a influencé la demande de b?uf.     

Genetically Modified Food Market Participation and Consumer Risk Perceptions: A Cross-Country Comparison

As developing nations look to become more competitive in world agricultural markets, genetically modified (GM) crops are one avenue of pursuit. However, fears of primary export market loss, negative media attention, and adverse government regulations often hinder GM crop implementation and increase GM food risk perceptions among domestic consumers. In this study we analyze consumer surveys of GM food purchase propensity conducted in the developing countries of Romania and China. Through the examination of marginal effects and the drivers of purchase propensity, we find that in spite of demographic and psychographic similarities, consumer willingness to purchase GM foods is quite different between the two samples. Consumer preferences are largely dependent on risk perceptions, which are high in the Romanian sample, but low in the Chinese sample. Additionally, the effect of regressors on GM purchase propensity is invariant across foods in Romania, but distinctly different across foods in China, possibly due to the stated nutritional enhancement (vitamin A) in GM rice. Comme les pays en développement cherchent à devenir plus concurrentiels sur les marchés agricoles mondiaux, les cultures génétiquement modifiées (CGM) constituent une avenue. Cependant, la crainte de perdre les principaux marchés d'exportation, l'attention médiatique négative et les règlements gouvernementaux défavorables retardent souvent l'ensemencement de CGM et augmentent la perception des risques liés aux aliments génétiquement modifiés (AGM) chez les consommateurs nationaux. Dans la présente étude, nous avons analysé des enquêtes auprès des consommateurs sur la propension à acheter des AGM dans les pays en développement, notamment la Roumanie et la Chine. En examinant les effets marginaux et les facteurs de propension à acheter, nous avons trouvé que, malgré des similarités démographiques et psychographiques, la volonté des consommateurs à acheter des AGM variait considérablement dans les deux échantillons. Les préférences des consommateurs dépendent grandement de la perception des risques, qui était élevée dans l'échantillon de la Roumanie et faible dans l'échantillon de la Chine. De plus, l'effet des variables indépendantes sur la propension à acheter des AGM était invariant pour tous les aliments en Roumanie, mais distinctement différent entre les aliments en Chine, probablement en raison de l'enrichissement nutritionnel déclaré (vitamine A) du riz génétiquement modifié.     

Perspectives on Consumer Perceptions of Local Foods: A View From Indonesia

In many countries around the world, support for local agriculture has been a burgeoning issue involving the development of the local foods movement as an alternative marketing. This study investigated ethnic and geographic differences with respect to the consumers' perceptions of local foods in Indonesia. Semistructured interviews were conducted to examine consumers' views of local foods. “Location,” “quality,” and “price” were found to be the most salient characteristics of local foods. The idea of village was associated with the meaning of “local.” Although the respondents' levels of awareness of local foods were high, further education and dissemination of the national policy on local foods was urgently needed.     

Maize Diversity and the Political Economy of Agrarian Restructuring in Guatemala

The neoliberal restructuring of agriculture is often predicated on the promise of a more efficient food system: other objectives, such as access to food, the environmental sustainability of production practices, the nutritional composition of diets and the rights of food producers, are largely ignored. In this paper, I document how the liberalization of trade and agricultural policies in Guatemala has undermined the latter set of objectives, thereby compromising domestic food sovereignty and global food security. In particular, I demonstrate how neoliberal policies have undermined maize agriculture and contributed to the loss of crop genetic resources in the Guatemalan ‘megacentre’ of agricultural biodiversity. In its place, small‐scale farmers have been encouraged to conform to the country's purported comparative advantage in non‐traditional export crops. The results have been widening inequality, a growing dependence upon imported grain and agrochemicals, environmental degradation and decreased food security.     

退耕还林工程的新政治经济学思考

新政治经济学是二战后西方社会出现的用经济学的方法研究政治问题的一门学术流派。依据新政治经济学有关理论,退耕还林工程属于公共物品,农民具有"经济人"属性。为实现退耕还林工程的生态目标,应当在政府和退耕农民之间建立起一种稳定的激励相容的契约关系:第一,继续完善供给机制,增强农民从事退耕还林工程建设的积极性;第二,建立退耕生态林产权收购制度,增加农民经济效益的可预期性。     

Earmarked: The Political Economy of Agricultural Research Appropriations

Since 1965 a significant portion of the US Department of Agriculture's extramural research budget has been earmarked by Congress for particular research projects. We analyze the process by which a minority of Congress induces the USDA to carry out its budgetary suggestions. We present evidence demonstrating the influence that appropriators possess over the allocation of earmarked grants. Finally, we argue that this program provides an excellent illustration of path-dependence in government policy, and that an understanding of the special grants program may shed light on the decline of science at the USDA and Congress's reluctance to increase agricultural research funding.     

The Political Economy of Contract Farming in China's Agrarian Transition

How does rural China's political economy determine the motivations and constraints that drive small farmers and agribusiness companies into contract farming and shape its practice and impact? This paper identifies three distinctive features of contract farming in China – varied impact on rural inequality, unstable contractual relations and lack of competitiveness with other alternatives – and proposes tentative explanations linked to three features in rural China's political economy: strong collective institutions, active state support for agriculture and strong domestic markets. The recent turn in China's agrarian transition towards vertical integration of agriculture with industries is, however, undermining these conditions and may move China towards more convergence with other countries. Studying contract farming in China's unique political economy context shows not only how variations in the political economy can alter its practice and impact, but also how it needs to be evaluated in comparison with competing alternatives.