Susanne Padel

Exploring the gap between attitudes and behaviour: Understanding why consumers buy or do not buy organic food

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to explore the values that underlie consumers purchasing decisions of organic food.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on data from focus groups and laddering interviews with a total of 181 regular and occasional consumers of organic food that were contrasted with survey results of other studies.Findings – The results show that most consumers associate organic at first with vegetables and fruit and a healthy diet with organic products. Fruit and vegetables are also the first and in many cases only experience with buying organic product. The decision‐making process is complex and the importance of motives and barriers may vary between product categories.Research limitations/implications – While further research would be required to facilitate full understanding of the consumer‐decision making process with regard to organic produce, this work indicates the complexity of the process and the likelihood of variation between different product categories. Future re...

Agronomic and environmental implications of organic farming systems

Stockdale, E. A., Lampkin, N. H., Hovi, M., Keatinge, R., Lennartsson, E. K. M., Macdonald, D. W., Padel, S., Tattersall, F. H., Wolfe, M. S., Watson, C. A. (2001). Agronomic and environmental implications of organic farming systems. Advances in Agronomy, 70, 261-327.

The Bio-Economy Concept and Knowledge Base in a Public Goods and Farmer Perspective

Currently an industrial perspective dominates the EU policy framework for a European bio-economy. The Commission’s proposal on the bio-economy emphasises greater resource-efficiency, largely within an industrial perspective on global economic competitiveness, benefiting capital-intensive industries at higher levels of the value chain. However a responsible bio-economy must initially address the sustainable use of resources. Many farmers are not only commodity producers but also providers of quality food and managers of the eco-system. A public goods-oriented bio-economy emphasises agro-ecological methods, organic and low (external) input farming systems, ecosystem services, social innovation in multi-stakeholder collective practices and joint production of knowledge. The potential of farmers and SMEs to contribute to innovation must be fully recognised. This approach recognises the importance of local knowledge enhancing local capabilities, while also accommodating diversity and complexity. Therefore the bio-economy concept should have a much broader scope than the dominant one in European Commission innovation policy. Socio-economic research is needed to inform strategies, pathways and stakeholder cooperation towards sustainability goals.

The development of the European market for organic products: insights from a Delphi study

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is present experiences using a well‐established forecasting tool, the Delphi method, to explore the dynamics of, and prospects for the development of the market for organic food in Europe. Delphi, developed by the Rand co‐operation to improve military technology forecasting, uses expert feedback to refine an informed perspective on complex or uncertain issues.Design/methodology/approach – This study used experts of the organic food market in 18 countries to explore factors influencing the development of the organic market, future market prospects, and the role of governments in future market development.Findings – The results show that short supply chains and focus on regional organic shops may be an indication of an earlier stage of market development, likely to be followed by integration into mainstream outlets and involvement of multiple retailers.Research limitations/implications – While more research would clearly be required, it is concluded that the mutual but mis...

Values of organic producers converting at different times: results of a focus group study in five European countries

This paper presents the results of a focus group study of the values of organic producers entering the sector at different times in Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and Switzerland. As well as expressing values widely associated with organic farming, such as food quality, health and environmental protection, they also mentioned professional challenge, fairness in the food chain, and maintaining farm income as important. The reviewed literature includes examples of a theory of conventionalisation, which implies that later converting producers are less committed to core organic values than the previously established ones. The conclusions of this paper do not support this idea. In interpreting the observed differences between the values of established and converting producers, it is argued that these are consistent with some aspects of adoption diffusion model, but changes in external circumstances and the learning experience that conversion represents must also be considered.

Influence of policy support on the development of organic farming in the European Union

Abstract The paper explores the influence of policy support on the development of the organic sector. Policies include the agri‐environment programme (EU Regulation 2078/92), the EU regulation 2092/91 defining organic crop‐production in statutory terms and policies to support market and regional development and the information provision of organic farming. Policy makers have been interested in organic farming for its environmental and health benefits and the potential to contribute to the goals of regional development programmes. The evaluation suggests that the variation in support policies alone cannot explain the different rates of conversion to organic farming in the EU.

Key characteristics for tool choice in indicator-based sustainability assessment at farm level

Although the literature on sustainability assessment tools to support decision making in agriculture is rapidly growing, little attention has been paid to the actual tool choice. We focused on the choice of more complex integrated indicator-based tools at the farm level. The objective was to determine key characteristics as criteria for tool choice. This was done with an in-depth comparison of 2 cases: the Monitoring Tool for Integrated Farm Sustainability and the Public Goods Tool. They differ in characteristics that may influence tool choice: data, time, and budgetary requirements. With an enhanced framework, we derived 11 key characteristics to describe differences between the case tools. Based on the key characteristics, we defined 2 types of indicator-based tools: full sustainability assessment (FSA) and rapid sustainability assessment (RSA). RSA tools are more oriented toward communicating and learning. They are therefore more suitable for use by a larger group of farmers, can help to raise awareness, trigger farmers to become interested in sustainable farming, and highlight areas of good or bad performance. If and when farmers increase their commitment to on-farm sustainability, they can gain additional insight by using an FSA tool. Based on complementary and modular use of the tools, practical recommendations for the different end users, i.e., researchers, farmers, advisers, and so forth, have been suggested.

UK consumer reactions to organic certification logos

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider whether UK consumers recognise and trust organic certification logos and whether the presence of these logos on a product increases consumer willingness to pay for that product.Design/methodology/approach – To ascertain the reaction of UK consumers to organic certification logos commonly used in the UK, this study makes use of three methods: focus groups, a consumer survey and a willingness to pay experiment (choice experiment).Findings – These three approaches reveal that UK consumers associate certain benefits with organic foods but are generally unaware of how the industry is regulated. With regards to trust of the logo, the standards they think underlie the logo and the inspection system that they think is associated with the logo, UK consumers rate the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers logos more highly than the EU logo or products labelled with just the word “organic”. They appear willing to pay a premium for the additional assurance ...

Organic Dairy Production: A Review

ABSTRACT Organic farming aims to create an integrated, humane, environmentally and economically sustainable agricultural system. For organic dairy systems, the fulfilment of these aims requires the understanding and integration of a number of systems components including land use (mixed or dairy only) and stocking rate; grassland and forage production, including quantity and quality; potential milk yield and milk quality; animal nutrition (largely farm based) and health; environmental sustainability such as farm nutrient balance; the financial status of the farm, including enterprise performance, fixed costs and labour use, and farm income and profit; and finally the policy environment in which organic dairy systems operate. This review discusses worldwide research undertaken into each of these key components of organic dairy production systems. As converting organic dairy systems are often considerably different to established organic systems, both the converting and developed organic dairy system are discussed in this paper.

Organic farming policy in the European Union

Organic farming is recognised in the European Union as one possible model to improve the sustainability of agriculture. During the 1990s the sector grew rapidly (to 3% of agricultural area in 2000), caused in part by policy support measures in member states and the EU. The paper summarises the development of the organic sector, discusses reasons for policy support, and reviews the main policy measures at EU and country level in three areas: legislation defining organic production, direct payments and other measures. It concludes that in future the integration of policy measures within countries and at EU level should be improved, in particular through the development of national and European action plans for organic farming.