Agribusiness最新文献

Social network plays an essential role in the consumers' omni-channel purchasing behaviors (OPBs). In this context, this research delves into two questions. First, do consumers make the omni-channel purchase decision of infant milk powder via social network? Second, which social network do consumers prefer about the different buying channel? To solve these problems, employing the Berry–Levinson–Pakes and distance-metric models, we explore the impact of social network modes on the consumers' OPBs based on the home-scan consumption data. These analyses provide compelling evidence for the positive impact of social network on consumers' OPBs. In particular, recommendation from friends accounts for 90.57% of the contribution to the increase in the online consumers' utility, whereas the voice from relative explains about 50% of the contribution to the offline consumers' utility, which is positively associated with consumer income. The regression results also demonstrate that (i) consumer trust has a significant moderating role in the consumers' OPBs and (ii) consumer trust has a larger moderating role in the consumers' OPBs relative to single-channel purchasing behavior. We expect that this paper can contribute to the existing literature and provide marketers with important practical suggestions [EconLit Citations: Q11, Q13].

Food reformulation can contribute to achieve public health objectives by facilitating access to healthy and sustainable food choices to consumers. Vitamin D is an important micronutrient that contributes to calcium absorption and bone health. Low vitamin D levels may lead to having a higher risk of poor bone and muscle for human health. In this manuscript we investigated, for the first time, United Kingdom consumer willingness to pay (WTP), and heterogeneity preferences for vitamin D fortification of eggs. We used a choice experiment (CE) involving several hypothetical egg products (i.e., pack of 10 eggs) that vary across three attributes levels such as production method (i.e., Cage, Barn, Free-range, and Organic), vitamin (i.e., no information or by reporting on the pack the claim “Vitamin D added”), and price (i.e., £0.80/pack, £1.90/pack, £3.00/pack, and £4.10/pack). Results suggest that, although on average consumers prefer low-price eggs produced using the free-range production method and the information about vitamin D fortification does not affect their valuation, there is a significant preference heterogeneity in consumer preferences associated with animal welfare, environment, health, and price attributes. Particularly, there is a significant preference heterogeneity towards the purchasing of eggs produced using the barn production method. Furthermore, we found that consumer preferences for vitamin D fortification of eggs is affected by consumer's age and the price of eggs. These findings provide useful insights into the psychology of consumer acceptance and attitudes that can be used in communicating the nature of the fortified vitamin D eggs to the public. They also have important implications for future labeling policies and marketing strategies of egg industry.

This study centers on analyzing Mexican consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for imported US fresh apples subjected to irradiation, contrasting it with the more prevalent postharvest chemical treatments. We collect data using a survey tool in Qualtrics designed to explore the impact of information dissemination through two distinct narrative styles: scientific and layman. The study uses a between-subjects approach and apply the propensity score matching to address potential confounding factors across respondents' samples. We apply the generalized multinomial logit models in WTP space, taking into consideration respondent's certainty when answering to the choice experiment questions. Our findings reveal that respondents are willing to pay less for apples treated with irradiation compared to untreated ones but more than apples treated with chemicals. The WTP for irradiation increases when respondents receive information about this technology from both the scientific and layperson narrative styles. Similar to findings in previous studies, WTP for irradiated food is affected by gender, age, income, family size, and level of education. This study contributes to the literature by identifying the key factors that strongly influence consumers' decisions to opt for irradiation-treated fresh fruits. These influential factors encompass information provision, social and demographic aspects, as well as the presence of country-of-origin labels. EconLit citations: C250, D820, Q160, Q180.

We provide an introduction to the Special Issue on the Economics of Food Reformulation.

Reductions in sugar intake are at the center of policy discussions to improve health. In this article, we use barcode-level nutrition and sales data on the near-universe of all packaged food products in the United States over 2007–2015 to investigate whether food manufacturers have reduced added sugar in their product offerings and whether these reformulations have played a role on consumers' sugar intake. We find that reformulation efforts would have reduced sugar intake by 52.8% between 2007 and 2015 had households' shopping baskets in 2015 remained the same as in 2007. However, consumers' purchases have gravitated toward more sugary products over time, thereby negating more than twothirds of the reduction in sugar intake that reformulation could have brought about. As a result, sugar intake has only decreased by 15.6%. Evidence shows that the largest reformulation effects come from product groups that have received the greatest scrutiny. Sweetened beverages, desserts, and sweets together represent 89% of pure reformulation, where sweetened beverages alone represent 43%. We also analyze the change in added sugar intake across income and find larger reductions in higher-income households; this finding suggests that existing disparities in diet quality have become more pronounced over time [EconLit Citations: D22, I12, I18, L66].

Food reformulation and the introduction of novel sources of nutrition are considered potential strategies to address poor nutrition and public health issues. Seaweed, a novel food in Western cuisine, is gaining popularity, and seaweed farming in the United States is an emerging and fast-growing aquaculture segment. This paper provides a comprehensive understanding of US consumers' preferences and attitudes toward seaweed and value-added seaweed products. Specifically, the study focuses on two distinct consumer groups: those who consume seaweed and those who do not. It includes separate analyses for each group to compare their attitudes and examine the characteristics and factors affecting their attitudes. This paper summarizes the different characteristics of seaweed consumers and nonconsumers. The results show that the seaweed consumers' knowledge of seaweed and perceptions of seaweed quality, price, and availability positively affect their intentions to try a new product flavored with seaweed. Nonconsumers have unique reasons for not consuming seaweed, several of which are associated with their intentions to try a new seaweed product [EconLit Citations: D12, Q13].

This study investigates the implicit and explicit health–taste tradeoffs that consumers make in response to sugar-reduction claims on chocolate cereals. We collect implicit measures through an Implicit Association Test, explicit perceptions of health and taste properties, and statements regarding product liking and purchase intention through a questionnaire. Based on a path analysis, we assess the relative strength of the indirect effects of sugar-reduction claims mediated by health and taste perceptions, as well as the direct effects on purchase intention. The results indicate that sugar-reduction claims decrease taste perceptions, increase health perceptions, and have only minor negative effects on product liking, but increase purchase intentions. Most participants show an implicit “unhealthy = tasty” intuition, which can be offset by moderate to high health consciousness. The implications for marketing and policymakers are twofold. First, our study shows that sugar-reduction claims are effective in addressing the original target group of health-conscious consumers. Second, our results suggest that the health–taste tradeoff is not prohibitively detrimental to purchase intentions among less health-conscious consumers. Potential instruments to increase the market share in this segment are discussed [EconLit Citations: I18, D12, D83].

This study provides evidence-based information on the impact of the pandemic lockdown and other COVID-19-related policies on Indian rural households' decisions on-farm investments and operations (planting and borrowing decisions). The study uses the World Bank's (2021) high-frequency rural household-level survey across six states of India for the 2020 Kharif crop season. Our analyses also show that farm households exhibit differences in their perception of the pandemic's impact on their farming operations. In terms of input cost, farm households exhibited heterogeneous reactions to input costs like fertilizer during the early part of the pandemic. Our results also show that government incentives in the form of cash transfers do not significantly impact households' farm operations decisions (including loan acquisitions). [EconLit Citations: C36, D19, Q12, R20].

This study uses an ex ante data envelopment analysis approach to examine potential gains that US agricultural cooperatives may accrue from mergers. Empirical estimations utilize data from CoBank, a lender to cooperatives, consisting of 749 midwestern agricultural cooperative observations from 2011 to 2015. Potential overall merger effects are decomposed into learning effects, scope effects, and scale effects. Findings show that less other unique merger costs such as legal fees, there are significant overall potential gains in profits from mergers. Relatively smaller merged cooperatives will accrue more gains in profits compared with their larger counterparts  [EconLit Citations: Q13, D20, G34].

China is an emerging beef market and per capita consumption of beef increased by 48% in the past decade. Given the importance of the Chinese beef market to domestic beef producers as well as foreign beef exporters, we evaluated the factors associated with how often Chinese consumers purchase beef. Using a 2021 survey of 560 beef consumers in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, we found that nearly 50% purchased beef at least two to three times a week. Results of an ordered probit regression suggest that respondents who purchase steak, flank, shank, and brisket are more likely to purchase beef more frequently than those who do not purchase those cuts of beef. Similarly, those who purchase beef more from wet markets and supermarkets, younger shoppers, and those with higher incomes were more likely to purchase beef more frequently. Respondents who considered country of origin and hormone-free production to be important factors purchased beef more frequently. Consumers who thought price and premium quality grades were more important purchased beef less frequently. These findings provide insights for domestic and foreign beef producers regarding the factors associated with consumer preferences and their frequency of beef purchasing in China. [EconLit Citations: EconLit Citation: Q130, Q170].