Abstract
The valorization of typical food products contributes to local economy sustainability. The European Union introduced the optional "mountain product label” (European Commission, EUR-Lex 2014, European Parliament 2012) to promote the mountain economic system sustainability. Although some researchers have focused their studies on the mountain product label, at our knowledge, the mountain product label value has never been investigated before. The aim of the study is to assess consumers’ willingness to pay for a typical mountain cheese with different sustainable production characteristics, among which the “mountain product label”, using a Choice Experiment approach. More in detail, we tested as sustainable issues: the presence on the label of the mountain product certification (i), the organic certification (ii) and some animal welfare information (iii). We also investigated socio-demographic and attitudinal variables influencing consumers’ propensity towards the three attributes. The main results confirm the consumers’ interest for the mountain product label, probably for a renewed consumers’ interests for environmental respectful production process in food market and because the mountain territory is perceived as carrier of positive values. Moreover, also the other attributes, organic label and especially the indication on animal welfare resulted to have a premium price. Another result emerging from our study is the sensitivity of young people to the issue of mountain product brand and animal welfare, suggesting an interesting target to address.
Highlights
Local food productions contributes to the sustainability of local economies, by incorporating traditional knowledge and territorial value of a place within the food product (Tregear et al, 2004)
Concerning the knowledge of Mountain product brand, very few people have seen the logo before (21%); at the opposite, quite obviously the majority of respondents are familiar with the organic logo (72%)
As in our previous hypothesis, a willingness to pay for the mountain product label has been confirmed by the analysis, probably because a renewed consumers’ interests for environmental respectful production process in food market (Ricci et al, 2018), and the positive characteristics that distinguish mountain territories in the collective imagination exist, according to which mountain territory is perceived as carrier of positive values as nature, clean water and air, heritage conservation and so on (Borec et al, 2009)
Summary
Local food productions contributes to the sustainability of local economies, by incorporating traditional knowledge and territorial value of a place within the food product (Tregear et al, 2004). Local food productions support local agriculture economy especially in disadvantaged areas as the mountains (Mazzocchi et al, 2019a, 2019b), where the economy is strictly based on the territorial resources. The positive characteristics that distinguish mountain territories in the collective imagination and the renewed consumers’ interests for a sustainable production process in the food market, have encouraged to improve a certification to support mountain agriculture. The literature on consumers’ behaviour concerning sustainable-friendly products employing CE method is rich (Bazzani et al, 2017; Mazzocchi et al, 2019a, 2019b; Costanigro et al, 2014; Rousseau, 2015) but at our knowledge, the mountain product label issue has never been treated before with CEs. Using a Supporting mountain agriculture through “mountain product”
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