public and consumer expectations from agriculture and food
TRANSCRIPT
Public and consumer expectations from
agriculture and food innovations
Prof. Wim Verbeke Department of Agricultural Economics
Ghent University, Belgium [email protected]
@WimVerbeke1
European Conference “Designing the path:
A strategic approach to EU agricultural research & innovation”
Brussels, 26-28 January 2016
Contents
• Food-related interests and expectations of citizen-consumers
• Public/consumer response to emerging agro-food technologies
• Empirical case studies as examples
• Conclusions - Challenges
1996 2016
Safe
Healthy
Safer
Environment friendly
Healthier Even safer
Sustainable
Even healthier
Authentic
Expectations from agriculture and food
… tasty and affordable
… and tasty …
… and tasty …
… and tasty …
… and tasty …
… and tasty and affordable !
Consumers expect information about these attributes, not necessarily during the stage of food purchase, but at any moment that may suit them.
time
Grunert (2006) Meat Science 74; Verbeke et al. (2010) Meat Science 84
• Attention to Extrinsic Quality Cues and related Information
• Safety less dominant, while Health and Sustainability gain share
• Process quality, Eating quality, and Convenience
• Concern for the Environment and interest in Ethical issues
• Mostly as a Citizen, less as Consumer: Citizen-Consumer Duality
• Acceptability/Acceptance of innovations increasingly questioned
Areas of change in public and consumer attitudes towards agriculture and food
Citizen attitude – to – Consumer behaviour Gap
Factors shaping European citizen attitudes to pig production (n=1,931; 2008; DK, BE, GE, GR, PL)
Krystallis et al.(2009) Livest Sci 126
Quality Key customer
Variable
Uniform
Fat Healthier fat
Lower fat
Standard fat
Environment Maximum effort
Some effort
Minimal effort
Housing Outdoor access
Litter bedding
Slatted floor
Size 800 or more sows
About 400 sows
Less than 100 sows
Preference Non-preference
Four EU citizen attitude segments in relation to how pig should be raised (size, %)
53,7 15,4
11,2
10,4
Broad majority with weak attitudes
Environmentally conscious
Animal welfare conscious
Small farming supporters
Krystallis et al.(2009) Livest Sci 126
Weak association between citizen attitude and consumer behaviour segments (p=0.009)
58,851,7 51,5
47,5
18,1
20,1 19,3
15,7
13,916,3 21,2
26,2
9,2 11,98 10,6
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Environmentally
conscious citizens
Citizens with
weak attitudes
Animal welfare
conscious citizens
Supporters of
small scale
farming
%
Non-pork eaters
Low Var / Low Freq
High Var / High Freq
High Var / Med Freq
Verbeke et al.(2010) Meat Sci 84
Non-pork eaters
Low users
Heavy users
Medium users
Public/Consumer Response to Innovation from Farm to Fork
time
Conceptual stage
Idea / potential of a technology or innovation
Technological and System characteristics can shape
societal controversy and support
Implementation, Application and commercialisation stage
Concrete applications, traits
Possible benefits / risks
Individual characteristics shape acceptance/rejection
ILSI Expert Group on Risk Communication; Frewer et al. (2011) Trends Food Sci Tech 22
Issues impacting on Public/Consumer Response to emerging Agro-Food Technologies
1. Perceived personal benefits: concrete, tangible
2. Perceived societal benefits: economy, environment
3. Perceived personal risks: safety, health
4. Perceived societal risks: environment
5. Differential accruement of benefits and risks: industry
6. Perceived scientific knowledge and uncertainty
7. Perceived efficacy of the regulatory framework
8. Trust in science and regulation
Frewer et al. (2011) Trends Food Sci Tech 22 Rolin et al. (2011) Trends Food Sci Tech 22 Verbeke (2011) AgroFood Ind hi-Tech 22
9. Ethical concerns
10. Perceived (un)naturalness
11. Public/Consumer Awareness and Familiarity
12. Cognitive associations and Attitude activation
13. Objective and Subjective Knowledge
14. Perceived controllability and Freedom of choice
15. Public/Consumer involvement during development
16. Information effects: media, labelling, public discourse
17. Socio-cultural and contextual factors
18. Other personal characteristics
Frewer et al. (2011) Trends Food Sci Tech 22 Rolin et al. (2011) Trends Food Sci Tech 22 Verbeke (2011) AgroFood Ind hi-Tech 22
Public sense-making, reactions and attitude formation:
The case of cultured meat
Six themes in the public sense-making around cultured meat
• Asking questions: What’s going on and where will it lead to?
• Making analogies to the familiar: genetic modification and cloning
• Metaphors as semantic packages: “Frankenfood”, “Jurassic Park”
• Establishing polarities: not natural, against nature
• Commonplaces as bottom-line arguments: playing God
• Pragmatic reasoning: environmental challenges, scientific progress
Marcu et al. (2015) Public Und Sci 24
Public reactions and attitude formation
First exposure leading to emotional reactions Unnaturalness of the process Playing God – Messing with nature
Good deal of curiosity Ethical motives; Solution to
meeting food insecurity If not needed as a nation,
perhaps as a planet
Questions about: - Long-term impacts - Health implications - Cultural practices - Livestock and farms
Concerns about: Risks, Mutations, Defects But unavoidable progress
Verbeke et al. (2015) Meat Sci 102
Stakeholder, farmer and public reactions towards
the use of insects in animal feed
Perception of insect-based feed and resulting foods
Insect-based feed and resulting foods seen as: • more sustainable, nutritious and healthy • less microbiologically safe (feed) • allergenic, and a harder sell (foods)
Verbeke et al. (2015) Anim Feed Sci Tech 204
Perceived challenges facing the use of insects in animal feed
• “Consumer acceptance” seen as the main pitfall despite favourable personal WTA • Perceived market-related challenges dominate over perceived technological challenges
Verbeke et al. (2015) Anim Feed Sci Tech 204
Perceived benefits and risks of using insects in animal feed
Top-3 perceived benefits (overall score 3.71 on 1-5 scale)
• Lower dependency on foreign protein imports
• Better valorisation of organic waste
• Improved sustainability of livestock production
Top-3 perceived risks (overall score 3.04 on 1-5 scale)
• Possible adverse impact on local biodiversity
• Introducing microbiological contamination in the food chain
• Competition with other agricultural activities
Verbeke et al. (2015) Anim Feed Sci Tech 204
Towards sustainable consumption:
Perceived match or mismatch between
health and sustainability
Consumer segments based on involvement with healthy and sustainable eating (n=2,720; 2014; BE, NL, UK, DE)
Uninvolved 15.4%
Moderately involved, 30.5%
Health involved 22.5%
Health and sustainability
involved, 31.6%
1,0
1,5
2,0
2,5
3,0
3,5
4,0
4,5
5,0
1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0 4,5 5,0
Involvement with healthy eating
Involvement with sustainable eating
Challenges in “Designing and following the path” involving citizen-consumers
• Assessing and Understanding:
– Citizen-consumers’ roles, needs, wants, preferences
– Their evolving expectations and demands in terms of process and product attr.
– Their impacts on other actors of agriculture and food systems
– Effective drivers of healthy and sustainable food choices
– How best to involve and engage them, and
– How to Re-connect them to producers
• Taking into account:
– The multitude of factors shaping Citizen-Consumer responses
– Citizen-Consumer Dualities and Attitude-to-Behaviour gaps
– The facts that preferences are not static over time, and that
– Citizen-Consumers are not all alike
Public and consumer expectations from agriculture and food innovations THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION
Prof. Wim Verbeke Department of Agricultural Economics
Ghent University, Belgium [email protected]
@WimVerbeke1
European Conference “Designing the path:
A strategic approach to EU agricultural research & innovation”
Brussels, 26-28 January 2016