Ulrich Hamm

Consumer perception of different organic certification schemes in five European countries

With the introduction of the new mandatory EU logo for organic food and farming, the various existing organic certification schemes in the European market face a challenge: Producers and retailers might only continue to display the existing organic logos on product packages if the underlying certification schemes offer consumers an added value compared to the mandatory EU logo and its scheme. The present study aims to identify potential added values that organic certification schemes could incorporate to differentiate themselves from the mandatory EU logo. The study explores consumer awareness and perception of different organic certification schemes and the corresponding logos, about which little is known to date. The qualitative approach with focus group discussions in the five European countries Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy and UK revealed that consumer knowledge of organic certification schemes is generally low. In Italy and the UK, the great majority of participants were not aware of any differences between the schemes that were discussed. In the Czech Republic, Denmark and Germany, several participants preferred a particular organic certification scheme over others. The following aspects could be identified as potential added values for certification schemes to differentiate themselves from the EU logo and the underlying scheme: Stricter production standards, stricter control, domestic origin and fair prices for farmers.

Consumption behaviour regarding organic food from a marketing perspective—a literature review

There are many publications focusing on diverse aspects of marketing research for organic products. However, so far there have been very few attempts to provide an overall synthesis of current knowledge. The present study therefore gives an overview of marketing research for organic food consumption, enabling the identification of research strengths and deficits. The review analyses a total of 277 research studies published between January 2000 and December 2011. The structure of this review was derived from the concept of the consumer-oriented marketing mix (4Cs), taking into account consumer value and benefits, cost to the consumer, communication and information needs and convenience and distribution. The results of this qualitative analysis reveal a high density of publications, especially for the period from 2008 to 2011. The most investigated topics are cost to the consumer and consumer value and benefits. Nevertheless, there are still many aspects within these research areas that have not yet been addressed, such as ecological packaging, price knowledge and price processing. The research areas communication and information needs and convenience and distribution are also less intensively researched.

Do Consumers Prefer Foods with Nutrition and Health Claims? Results of a Purchase Simulation

This contribution reports findings of a close-to-realistic purchase simulation for foods labelled with nutrition and health claims. The results show that products with a claim are clearly preferred, but that the determining factors of choice differ between the food categories. Choice was positively influenced by perception of healthiness of the product and negatively influenced by selection of the habitually chosen brand, while age, gender and credibility of the claim were of no importance. Both low price-level of the product with a claim and scepticism towards texts on food products had contrariwise effects for different food categories. Further determinants which exercised a positive influence were product involvement, health-related food involvement, extent of information search and the presumption that the claim is scientifically proven.

The mandatory EU logo for organic food: consumer perceptions

Purpose – In July 2010, a mandatory European Union (EU) logo for organic food was introduced to strengthen the organic sector by making the identification of organic products easier for consumers. The present study aims to analyse how consumers in five EU countries view a mandatory EU logo for organic food and to give recommendations for agrarian decision makers and market actors in the organic sector.Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to provide a comprehensive picture of consumer views. Focus group discussions were conducted with consumers in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy and the UK. A subsequent survey with 2,042 participants was carried out to quantify consumer views on key issues and analyse country differences. Finally, the results of the qualitative and quantitative study were brought together.Findings – While the introduction of a mandatory EU logo for organic food was generally welcomed in all countries, trust in...

Is there a promising market ‘in between’ organic and conventional food? Analysis of consumer preferences

A variety of products incorporating single aspects of organic production systems such as lower inputs of pesticides, food additives or concentrated animal feed is found on the food market (referred to as low-input products hereafter). In our study, we analysed how consumers react to low-input products in a purchase simulation with certified organic, conventional and low-input products. In the purchase simulations, each participant was asked to make three consecutive purchase decisions, one each for milk, yogurt and apples. The results of a cluster analysis revealed one cluster with a high preference for organic products and three clusters that featured considerable shares of low-input purchases. The latter clusters, however, were not characterised by a clear preference for low-input products. Rather, they bought mixed baskets of goods, i.e. low-input products in combination with either organic or conventional products. The low-input products in the categories milk, yogurt and apples did thus not necessarily attract the same groups of people. Interestingly, we found that most consumers who chose low-input products in the simulations usually buy those particular products in conventional quality. We conclude that in our study, we found a heterogeneous group of low-input buyers. For the organic sector, communicating the various aspects of organic production might be a promising strategy for gaining new customers. The low-input products in the purchase simulation only featured one special attribute, whereas organic products incorporate several. (C)Cambridge University Press 2009

Why regular buyers of organic food still buy many conventional products

Purpose – The sales volume of organic food products in Germany has been increasing consistently over recent years, yet only a small number of households is responsible for the majority of organic purchases. Even these so-called “regular” organic food buyers spend, on average, less than half of their budget on organic products. The present study aims to analyse the reasons why these consumers do not purchase particular products in organic quality, in order to uncover product gaps and purchase barriers. Design/methodology/approach – The investigation is based on computer-aided, personal interviews among regular organic food buyers, which were conducted in retail and organic food stores across Germany. Altogether, 817 interviews were carried out. To minimize regional variation in the data-set, stores were selected from north, south, west and east Germany in equal proportions. Findings – The most important reasons for not purchasing organic products among regular organic food consumers were price, insufficien...

Reversion from organic to conventional agriculture: A review

Over the past 10 years, the organic sector has expanded continuously in Europe due to policy support and a growing market demand for organic products. In line with this development, many farmers converted to organic farming each year. Nevertheless, the total number of organic farms has not increased constantly in Europe. In several countries, the absolute number of organic farms actually decreased in some years of the past decade. Some of the deregistered farmers gave up completely; others reverted to conventional agriculture. Against this background, this article aims (i) to give an overview of the extent of reversion to conventional agriculture in Europe based on statistics, (ii) to conceptualize the decision to revert in the form of a theoretical model, (iii) to compare farmers’ reasons to revert to conventional farming based on existing studies, and (iv) to identify further research needs. The importance of reversions to conventional agriculture is difficult to determine with the existing data, especially as in most cases it is not recorded as to what happened to the farms after deregistering from organic certification. The data nevertheless show that there are large fluctuations in the organic sector with many farmers entering and exiting each year. In order to reveal the farmers’ reasons for deregistering, various qualitative as well as quantitative surveys have been carried out already. For most farmers, the decision to revert is a result of different factors. Reasons for the reversion of their farms can be classified into economic motives, difficulties regarding certification and control, problems with organic production techniques as well as the farms’ macro environment. In most cases, however, economic reasons played a main role. Suggestions for organic legislation bodies, advisory services and policy makers are derived out of the findings. A deeper understanding of the influencing aspects regarding reversions and the necessary changes in the organic sector to avoid them should be an important objective of forthcoming research.

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 ...

Motives of consumers following a vegan diet and their attitudes towards animal agriculture.

The number of consumers following a vegan diet has notably increased in many industrialised countries and it is likely that their influence on the food sector will continue to grow. The aim of the present study was to identify different segments of consumers according to their motivation for following a vegan diet. Another objective was to analyse the attitudes of these consumers towards animal agriculture. The main focus was to determine whether all consumers following a vegan diet oppose animal agriculture in general or if some of these consumers accept certain forms of animal agriculture. The 2014 study, conducted at seven vegan supermarkets in Germany, was based on face-to-face interviews with 329 consumers following a vegan diet. The open question on consumer motivations for adopting a vegan diet revealed three main motives: Animal-related motives (mentioned by 89.7% of the respondents), motives related to personal well-being and/or health (69.3%), and environment-related motives (46.8%). The two-step cluster analysis identified five consumer segments with different motivations for following a vegan diet. The vast majority of respondents (81.8%) mentioned more than one motive. We conclude that making a dichotomous segmentation into ethical versus self-oriented consumers, as previous authors have done, disregards the fact that many consumers following a vegan diet are driven by more than one motive. The consumer segments had significantly different attitudes towards animal agriculture. We identified consumers following a vegan diet (about one third of the sample) who might be open to forms of animal agriculture guaranteeing animal welfare standards going beyond current practices. The present study has interesting implications for the food sector and the agricultural sector.

Organic Agriculture 3.0 is innovation with research

Organic agriculture can and should play an important role in solving future challenges in producing food. The low level of external inputs combined with knowledge on sustainablity minimizes environmental contamination and can help to produce more food for more people without negatively impacting our environment. Organic agriculture not only includes farming as a production practice but it also includes processing, trade and consumption. Nevertheless, Organic agriculture must always evolve to overcome emerging challenges. Science-based knowledge attained through dedicated research is required to strengthen organic food and farming as a means to solve future challenges. In 2010, a global discussion about Organic 3.0 was initiated to address current problems our agri-food systems are facing. Many scientifically and practically proven results are already available to make organic agriculture a strong tool to solve some of these challenges. However, the organic agri-food system has to be developed further to fulfill its potential. The contribution of organic agriculture to help solve current problems linked to food security and environmental quality was discussed during the International Society of Organic Agricultural Research (ISOFAR) Symposium “Organic 3.0 is Innovation with Research”, held September 20–22, 2015, in conjunction with the first ISOFAR International Organic Expo, in Goesan County, Republic of Korea. Some of the world’s most active scientists in organic agriculture attended the symposium. This paper is a result of their discussions and aims to give an overview of research conducted and required to strengthen organic agriculture in its ambitions to overcome agronomic challenges, contribute to food security and protect our common environment.