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Consumers' Willingness to Pay for Reduced Pesticide Use in the Production of Fresh and Processed Apples
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Combris, Pierre Giraud-Héraud, Éric Bazoche, Pascale Hannus, C. Pinto, Alexandra Seabra Berjano, Manuel Tarrío Maia, Rodrigues |
| Copyright Year | 2012 |
| Abstract | Nowadays, consumers become more aware of pesticide risk problems and changes are recorded in consumer behaviour because of food safety or environmental (“sustainability”) considerations, or both. The individual consumer faces a trade-off between the utility derived from tastes and characteristics of a product, the utility of behaving “green” and the utility of healthy dieting. In this work, we used experimental markets to measure the consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for apples and apple juice produced with reduced pesticide use. In order to see the impact of different information about pesticides use, different apple types were used which are products with different levels of pesticides: Regular apples, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) apples, Organic apples. To know if the potential diversity in consumer behaviour was depending on geographical location, experimental participants were randomly recruited from the general population in Portugal and France. The protocol’s experimental design was applied in these two countries, to 207 consumers of apples and apple juice. The Becker-DeGrootMarschak (BDM) auction mechanism was used and different apples were sold under different information conditions in a random-price sale. We show that there is a consumer WTP for pesticides use reduction (a premium for product with specific signal) and that specific information on pesticide use increases this WTP for organic product but not for IPM products. However, the most important result is that the specific information decreases the WTP for the regular product. Then it seems more rigorous to treat the results in terms of “premium against the regular product”, anticipating the loss of market share for the regular product. After showing that consumers’ premium for pesticide reduction is not independent from the product’s sensory attributes, we give the quantitative results for the consumers WTP for a pesticide reduction. INTRODUCTION The first works regarding consumers’ concerns about pesticide reduction were carried out based on surveys (Hammitt, 1990; Misra et al. 1991; Huang, 1993; Eom, 1994). Most of these studies have used stated preference methods in order to estimate the consumers’ perception of risk associated with pesticides use. Others works have used methodologies that are not based upon the consumers’ statements but that, instead, analyse their real buying behaviors. Studies like the works of Roosen et al. (1998), Rozan et al. (2004), Combris et al. (2010) used experimental economics to assess the value of some environmental characteristics of food products. These works are based on protocols specifying rules relating to a precise auction mechanism. In studies of this nature, the individuals are in a laboratory environment in which it is reproduced a simplified economical situation. The incentive and revealing mechanisms allow the consumers to make an effective decision, being Vickrey and BDM the most used ones. To the best of our knowledge, Roosen, Fox, Hennessy and Schreiber (1998) were the first to analyse WTP for pesticide-free produce in experimental economics. The authors adapted a protocol already used in experimental economics (notably by Shogren et al. (1994) and Melton et al. (1996)) and used Vickrey auctions as an effective procedure for revealing preferences of Washington State consumers. Data analysis shows that WTP for produce free from neuroactive pesticides is significantly higher than for conventional produce and that the inferior appearance of the apples has a significant (negative) effect on WTP. Authors as Rozan, Stenger and Willinger (2004) defined an experimental context to assess WTP for the controlled heavy metal content label. The objective was to determine the impact of information on the significance of labelling and the impact on health. The authors showed that revealing information about health risks did not affect the valuation of the labelled product but did cause a loss of value for the conventional product. Bougherara and Combris (2009) appraise French consumers’ WTP for eco-products through an experiment on eco-labeled orange juice. The aim of the experiment is to evaluate WTP for three orange juices: standard, organically-farmed, and environmentally-friendly. This study shows that organic product and environmentallyfriendly product are invariably valued more highly than standard product. This study shows that organic product and environmentally-friendly product are invariably valued more highly than standard product. Revealing the information has no impact on the valuation of the standard product. Combris, Seabra Pinto, Fragata and Giraud-Héraud (2010) used an experimental auction to investigate how quality attributes information affects consumers’ willingness to pay for different types of pears. The main results show that information on the products’ characteristics related to food safety instantly influences consumers’ willingness to pay. However, it appears that sensory intrinsic attributes related to taste finally beats the guarantee of food safety in driving the buying behaviour. Bazoche et al. (2008) implement a similar protocol to a processed product (wine), in this study the health effect is excluded in order to assess only the environmental valuation. It seems that consumer responses to the absence of pesticides are not identical between fresh and processed products. The aim of our experiments was to measure the consumers' willingness to pay for apples produced with less use of pesticides, and to compare results from various European countries. We led experimental sessions in two countries: Portugal and France. The aim of these experiments was the same in the two countries even if few differences appear between the protocols. Mainly these differences were introduced in order to improve the previous protocols. In the section above, we present the sample and the recruitment procedure, the products used during the sessions and the protocols used in each country. MATERIALS AND METHODS Products Broadly, in each country, apples produced with three levels of pesticide used were proposed to the participants. The first level of pesticide used is defined by the minimum quality standard in force. In this category, the apples, named "regular", respect only the national law for the pesticides used. The second level of pesticide used, is defined by a controlled reduction of pesticide used compare to the existing legislation. The decrease of pesticide in production methods can be guarantee by the government, by the retailer or by the producers’ union. In order to identify the best way to promote this reduction, we proposed apples certified by each of these organisms. Finally, the organic apples represent the last level of pesticides used, where chemical pesticides are prohibited. In the case of the Portuguese experiment, we were careful to take into account the heterogeneity of tastes that can be observed in the market. In the first step of the Portuguese experiment, the participants had to taste 6 apples from two different varieties: 3 apples Granny Smith and 3 apples Royal Gala. In the two varieties, the three level of pesticides use was proposed (regular, IPM and organic) but participants didn’t have any information about the products’ characteristics except the name of the variety. The objective is to determine if the consumers could reject an apple because of its variety. At the end of the first stage, the favorite variety of each participant was identified, and then each participant continued the experiment only with his favorite variety (Granny Smith or Royal Gala). In France, only one variety was proposed to the participants. Apples were selected according national preferences for varieties and according to supply constraints. In this country, the organic apples was not available in the same size than the other apples, for this reason a small regular apple was added in order to control the effect of the apple size. Experimental subjects Altogether 209 subjects participated in the experiments (102 in Portugal and 107 in France). The sessions took place in sensory analysis rooms and were able to receive between 8 and 16 participants. For each country the same set of criteria was used in order to recruit the participants. The same questions have been asked to the participants in Lisboa and Dijon. To be selected for the experiments, subjects had to be regular consumers and buyers of apples. They had to tell to the recruiter a realistic price for one kilo of apples. All the participants received an explanation letter to expose the context in which apples will be evaluated and the incentive mechanism. Experimental procedure In order to assess the WTP for apples produced with less used of pesticides, the BDM procedure (Becker, De Groot, Marschak, 1964) was used to elicit participants’ willingness to pay. The incentive mechanism allowing the consumers to make an actual decision is a sale. The mechanism is quite simple, the participant gives the maximum price he is ready to pay for the product, and then he draws lot the selling price. If the selling price is greater than the willingness to pay given by the participant he cannot buy the product. If the selling price is lower than (or equal) his revealed willingness to pay, the participant buy the product at the selling price. So participants have to be cautious when they write down their willingness to pay because they likely will have to pay the price they announced. The session began by explaining the procedure verbally to everyone. To ensure the revelation mechanism was properly understood (auction process) a trial auction was held with alternative products. Basically, the sale experiments were conducted following five steps. For each of them, consumers had to answer to the same question: « What is the maximum price you are ready to pay to buy 1 kg of this apple or one bottle of this apple juice? ». The steps are defined according t |
| Starting Page | 425 |
| Ending Page | 431 |
| Page Count | 7 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.17660/ActaHortic.2012.940.61 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.eng.auth.gr/mattas/teampest/3335.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2012.940.61 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
