Consumers’ expectations and willingness‐to‐pay for local animal products produced with local feed

Abstract

SummaryWhat is local food? To answer this question, past consumer research focused on a definition based on distances between the point of production and the point of purchase or political and landscape boundaries. Nonetheless, there are few findings about what consumers expect or know about the origin of input factors for locally labelled products. Most consumers do not know that animal food production in Europe is dependent on protein feed imports from third countries that come with negative environmental effects. Local supply chains with domestic protein feedstuffs are only economically feasible when consumers pay higher prices. This study analyses whether consumers are willing to pay higher prices for the use of local feed in local products. For this purpose, a German wide survey of 1602 consumers in food retail shops was carried out. The findings reveal a high potential demand for local animal products produced with local feed.