The private provision of public environment: Consumer preferences for organic production systems

This paper analyses individual preferences regarding environmental and health improvement technologies in organic food production systems. The impure public model is applied to explore the implications of organic food preferences for environmental market provision. Empirical results from a survey reveal that consumers are willing to pay for both health gains and environmental friendly technologies in organic milk production, although the valuation of the health aspects is higher. Prior information about organic production systems and shopping convenience are key variables in interpersonal comparisons of willingness to pay. The perceived overall value of organic production systems was higher among individuals with stronger environmental preferences than among those who prioritise health concerns. The conclusions of this study may have implications for the analysis of efficiency in the organic produce market.     

The effects of acculturation and uncertainty avoidance on foreign resident choice for Korean foods

This study attempts to identify dining-out patterns among foreign residents in South Korea, examining the differences in foreign residents’ attitudes toward Korean foods and behavioral intentions to patronize Korean restaurants based on their acculturation and uncertainty avoidance levels. The results show that foreign residents in South Korea dine out frequently and intend to revisit Korean restaurants. However, the high acculturation group has a more positive attitude toward, better understanding of, and more preference for Korean foods than the low acculturation group. Satisfaction, revisiting, and recommendation intentions for Korean restaurants are higher among the high acculturation group than the low. The low uncertainty avoidance group spends more money for dining out than the high uncertainty avoidance group, who perceive Korean foods as expensive. Attitudes toward, understanding of, and preference for Korean foods, do not differ significantly between the two uncertainty avoidance groups; nor do satisfaction and behavioral intentions to Korean restaurants.     

The power of video to trigger innovation: rice processing in central Benin

Participatory plant breeding began in developing countries and now some European farmers and scientists are proposing its suitability in contributing to sustainable agriculture. This paper uses both genetics and sociology to determine the conditions required. A review of the sustainability of projects implemented in developing countries initiated discussion of an organic durum wheat participatory breeding programme, which is currently being implemented in the south of France. The analysis highlighted the need for the critical participation of experts from different horizons in a socio-technical network. Multi-level interactions and cross-linked learning processes about breeding methods and sociological concepts are needed for effective communication between different stakeholders and scientific disciplines. This approach enables implementation of a range of different action systems in which the production of relevant knowledge and rules addresses the issue of the sustainable development of diverse agro-food systems, rather than the generalization of one model.     

The organic industry in Australia: Current and future trends

Accurate information is critical for investment, policy alignment and to support agricultural development. In Australia information relating to the size, growth, current and future value of the organic sector has been incoherent and, in some cases, contradictory. This study seeks to address this gap by synthesising industry and government data with the results of an online quantitative survey as well as a series of in-depth interviews to capture the value added component of the organic industry in Australia. By sub-dividing the total organic industry into thirteen categories which makes for meaningful analysis and interpretation, we aimed to estimate the compound average growth rate, the current value added and future trends in the Australian organic industry. This has resulted in some interesting findings, hence the methodology could potentially serve as a benchmark for the reporting of organic food growth globally. The findings also have important implications for various stakeholders including, growers of organic products, investors, land use policy makers and industry operators.     

Effect of Consumption Values on Women’s Choice Behavior Toward Organic Foods: The Case of Organic Yogurt in Iran

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of consumption values (i.e., functional value, social value, emotional value, conditional value, epistemic value, environmental value, and health value) on women’s choice behavior toward organic yogurt. Structural equation modeling is used to assess data collected by a questionnaire survey. The results indicate that functional value–quality, functional value–taste, and functional value–price; conditional value; epistemic value; and health value have positive effects on choosing organic yogurt by women, and social value, emotional value, and environmental value have no effects on the subject. Among variables, epistemic value and health value have the highest impact on consumer choice behavior toward organic yogurt. So this study concludes that the main influence factors on choice behavior regarding organic yogurt are epistemic value and health value. In fact, consumers have high knowledge about organic yogurt benefits related to their health.     

An assessment of organic apparel,environmental beliefs and consumer preferences via fashion innovativeness

The topic of organic apparel has been widely discussed among academics and practitioners in recent years. While numerous studies have been done on the topic, few studies to date have assessed the topic of fashion innovativeness and its influence on attitudes towards organic apparel. In addition, an evaluation of consumer preferences for organic apparel from a conjoint analysis perspective has not been implemented. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to identify which organic apparel attributes are most important to high fashion innovativeness and low fashion innovativeness groups. Furthermore, the variables of environmental beliefs and attitudes towards purchasing organic apparel were assessed. An online survey was developed to measure the variables, including a full profile discrete choice design used to measure attribute preferences for t‐shirts. The data were analyzed using a multinomial logit model and desirability indices. The results indicated that the low fashion innovativeness group preferred organic and eco‐friendly apparel more than the high fashion innovativeness group. In addition, when examining high fashion innovativeness and low fashion innovativeness groups overall, the preferred t‐shirt was Dri‐Fit, Cotton Jersey Knit, Made In America, Eco‐Friendly and $25.00. However, when examining high fashion innovativeness and low fashion innovativeness groups separately for the preferred t‐shirt, differences appeared in Sustainable. The results suggest that high fashion innovativeness and low fashion innovativeness groups may desire different organic apparel attributes when considering organic apparel.     

黑土典型区有机质高光谱预测模型

土壤有机质(SOM)是鉴别土壤肥力的重要指标,是土壤肥力的物质基础,其含量预测模型研究对于土壤肥力评价、土壤碳库估算、土壤资源利用与保护具有重要意义。该文以黑龙江省黑土带典型区为例,采集区域土壤样本,基于有机质含量与土壤反射率的定量关系,对光谱反射率进行一阶微分和倒对数的处理,建立偏最小二乘法模型(PLSR)、一元线性回归模型和多元线性逐步回归模型。结果表明:(1)土壤有机质敏感波段位于650-750nm。(2)通过比较建模样本与检验样本的决定系数(R2)和均方根误差(RMSE)的大小,得到反射率和倒对数处理后的数据最优模型都为PLSR模型,一阶微分处理后的最优模型为多元线性逐步回归模型。(3)PLSR模型的建模效果优于回归模型,但其预测效果却并不理想。该研究将为改进土壤理化参数、遥感反演、土地质量评价等工作方法提供理论与技术支持。     

Consumer willingness to pay for redundant food labels

Previous studies, as well as market sales data, show some consumers are willing to pay a premium for redundant or superfluous food labels that carry no additional information for the informed consumer. Some advocacy groups have argued that the use of such redundant labels is misleading or unethical. To determine whether premiums for redundant labels stem from misunderstanding or other factors, this study seeks to determine whether greater knowledge of the claims - in the form of expertise in food production and scientific literacy - decreases willingness to pay for redundant labels. We also explore whether de-biasing information influences consumers’ valuations of redundant labels. An online survey of 1122 U.S. consumers elicited preferences for three redundantly labeled products: non-GMO sea salt, gluten-free orange juice, and no-hormone-added chicken breast. Respondents with farm experience report lower premiums for non-GMO salt and no-hormone-added chicken. Those with higher scientific literacy state lower premiums for gluten-free orange juice. However, after providing information about the redundancy of the claims, less than half of respondents who were initially willing to pay extra for the label are convinced otherwise. Over 30% of respondents counter-intuitively increase their premiums, behavior that is associated with less a priori scientific knowledge. The likelihood of “overpricing” redundant labels is associated with willingness-to-pay premiums for organic food, suggesting at least some of the premium for organic is a result of misinformation.     

Farmers’ perceptions of biodiversity: Lessons from a discourse-based deliberative valuation study

In agricultural landscapes farmers have a large impact on biodiversity through the management decisions they apply to their land. Farmers’ perceptions of biodiversity and its different values influence their willingness to apply biodiversity friendly farming practices. The results of a discourse-based, deliberative biodiversity valuation are presented in this paper. Organic and conventional farmers’ perceptions of the different values of biodiversity were analyzed across three European countries. Focus group methodology was used to explore how farmers perceive biodiversity and how they assess its values.Our results suggest that farmers’ perceptions of biodiversity are strongly embedded in their everyday lives and linked to farming practices. Besides recognizing the importance of species and habitat diversity, farmers also acknowledge wider landscape processes and attach value to the complexity of ecological systems. Organic farmers tended to have a more complex and philosophical approach to biodiversity and they were relatively homogeneous in this aspect, while conventional farmers showed larger heterogeneity. Ethical and social values were important for all farmers. Economic value was more dominant in the conventional focus groups.The discourse based deliberative valuation method is worth applying in relation to biodiversity for two reasons. First, this method is able to reflect the heterogeneity of non-scientist participants and the context in which they are embedded, which both have a great impact on the results of the valuation. Second, deliberation upon the importance of biodiversity makes possible to understand the competing perceptions of biodiversity and to include different value aspects in the valuation process. The policy oriented consequence of the research can be drawn from the observation that farmers have a strong acknowledgement of ethical and social biodiversity values. This suggests that soft policy tools could also foster biodiversity sensitive farming methods, complementary to mainstream monetary incentives.     

The influence of indoor air on personal exposure to volatile organic compounds and its risk estimation

This paper summarizes the results of personal exposure monitoring and estimates the risk from exposure to 18 volatile organic compounds compared with health criteria set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. In study 1, personal exposure levels and outdoor air concentrations were compared, and in study 2, personal exposure levels and the corresponding indoor air concentrations were compared. From these studies, it was concluded that personal exposure to volatile organic compounds depended markedly on indoor air quality and that handling of compounds increased personal exposure markedly. Risk estimations indicated that chloroform in tap water, benzene from cigarette smoke and p -dichlorobenzene from household insecticide needed caution.