IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v13y2023i3p585-d1082652.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Value of Crop Diversification: Understanding the Factors Influencing Consumers’ WTP for Pasta from Sustainable Agriculture

Author

Listed:
  • Eleonora Sofia Rossi

    (Department of Economics, Engineering, Society and Business Organization (DEIM), University of Tuscia, Via del Paradiso 47, 01100 Viterbo, Italy)

  • José A. Zabala

    (Departamento de Economía de la Empresa, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII, 48, 30203 Cartagena, Spain)

  • Francesco Caracciolo

    (Economics and Policy Group, Department of Agricultural Sciences, BAT-Center for Studies on Bioinspired Agro-Environmental Technology, University of Naples “Federico II” Via Università, 96-80055 Portici, Italy)

  • Emanuele Blasi

    (Agricultural and Food Economics, Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-Food and Forest Systems (DIBAF), University of Tuscia, Via San Camillo del Lellis snc-, 01100 Viterbo, Italy)

Abstract

(1) Background: The pressure that agricultural systems’ intensive management exerts on the environment concerns society. For this reason, the demand for sustainable foods is growing in the market. This study investigated consumers’ Willingness To Pay (WTP) for dry semolina pasta produced with raw materials from more diversified agricultural systems and which factors influence this choice. (2) Methods: The data, collected through a contingent valuation exercise, involved 185 Italian consumers. Through a Tobit model, the drivers influencing the WTP were selected. A latent class cluster analysis determined four different groups of consumers. (3) Results: The data highlighted a real social demand for sustainability. Consumers recognize a higher WTP for sustainable pasta. This value is influenced by drivers such as purchasing habits, personal characteristics, and environmental attitudes. (4) Conclusions: This work offers an approach, both from a market and political point of view, to how this higher potential WTP could be identified and redistributed among the value chain actors by structuring both marketing strategies for the different types of consumers and political tools able to help agri-food chains towards sustainability transition.

Suggested Citation

  • Eleonora Sofia Rossi & José A. Zabala & Francesco Caracciolo & Emanuele Blasi, 2023. "The Value of Crop Diversification: Understanding the Factors Influencing Consumers’ WTP for Pasta from Sustainable Agriculture," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-18, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:3:p:585-:d:1082652
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/3/585/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/3/585/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stevens, Thomas H., 2005. "Can Stated Preference Valuations Help Improve Environmental Decision Making?," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 20(3), pages 1-5.
    2. Govindan, Kannan, 2018. "Sustainable consumption and production in the food supply chain: A conceptual framework," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 419-431.
    3. James Murphy & P. Allen & Thomas Stevens & Darryl Weatherhead, 2005. "A Meta-analysis of Hypothetical Bias in Stated Preference Valuation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 30(3), pages 313-325, March.
    4. Klaus Glenk & Sergio Colombo, 2011. "How Sure Can You Be? A Framework for Considering Delivery Uncertainty in Benefit Assessments Based on Stated Preference Methods," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 25-46, February.
    5. Cooper, Philip & Poe, Gregory L. & Bateman, Ian J., 2004. "The structure of motivation for contingent values: a case study of lake water quality improvement," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1-2), pages 69-82, September.
    6. Jeremy De Valck & John Rolfe & Darshana Rajapaksa & Megan Star, 2022. "Consumers' preferences and willingness to pay for improved environmental standards: insights from cane sugar in the Great Barrier Reef region," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 66(3), pages 505-531, July.
    7. Kemp, Katherine & Insch, Andrea & Holdsworth, David K. & Knight, John G., 2010. "Food miles: Do UK consumers actually care?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 504-513, December.
    8. Aaron J. Staples & Carson J. Reeling & Nicole J. Olynk Widmar & Jayson L. Lusk, 2020. "Consumer willingness to pay for sustainability attributes in beer: A choice experiment using eco‐labels," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(4), pages 591-612, October.
    9. Edi Defrancesco & Maria Angela Perito & Irene Bozzolan & Leonardo Cei & Gianluca Stefani, 2017. "Testing Consumers’ Preferences for Environmental Attributes of Pasta. Insights from an ABR Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-13, September.
    10. Dominic Lemken & Mandy Knigge & Stephan Meyerding & Achim Spiller, 2017. "The Value of Environmental and Health Claims on New Legume Products: A Non-Hypothetical Online Auction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-18, July.
    11. Lucia Recchia & Alessio Cappelli & Enrico Cini & Francesco Garbati Pegna & Paolo Boncinelli, 2019. "Environmental Sustainability of Pasta Production Chains: An Integrated Approach for Comparing Local and Global Chains," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-16, March.
    12. Angelo Frascarelli & Stefano Ciliberti & Gustavo Magalhães de Oliveira & Gabriele Chiodini & Gaetano Martino, 2021. "Production Contracts and Food Quality: A Transaction Cost Analysis for the Italian Durum Wheat Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-12, March.
    13. De Bauw, Michiel & Franssens, Samuel & Vranken, Liesbet, 2022. "Trading off environmental attributes in food consumption choices," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    14. Boxall, Peter C. & Adamowicz, Wiktor L. & Swait, Joffre & Williams, Michael & Louviere, Jordan, 1996. "A comparison of stated preference methods for environmental valuation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 243-253, September.
    15. Van Loo, Ellen J. & Caputo, Vincenzina & Nayga, Rodolfo M. & Seo, Han-Seok & Zhang, Baoyue & Verbeke, Wim, 2015. "Sustainability labels on coffee: Consumer preferences, willingness-to-pay and visual attention to attributes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 215-225.
    16. Stefano Ciliberti & Marcello Stanco & Angelo Frascarelli & Giuseppe Marotta & Gaetano Martino & Concetta Nazzaro, 2022. "Sustainability Strategies and Contractual Arrangements in the Italian Pasta Supply Chain: An Analysis under the Neo Institutional Economics Lens," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-18, July.
    17. Soyoung Seo & Hee-Kyung Ahn & Jaeseok Jeong & Junghoon Moon, 2016. "Consumers’ Attitude toward Sustainable Food Products: Ingredients vs. Packaging," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-19, October.
    18. Laura O. Taylor & Ronald G. Cummings, 1999. "Unbiased Value Estimates for Environmental Goods: A Cheap Talk Design for the Contingent Valuation Method," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 649-665, June.
    19. McDonald, John F & Moffitt, Robert A, 1980. "The Uses of Tobit Analysis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 62(2), pages 318-321, May.
    20. Luca Cacchiarelli & Daniel Lass & Alessandro Sorrentino, 2016. "CAP Reform and Price Transmission in the Italian Pasta Chain," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(4), pages 482-497, November.
    21. Grunert, Klaus G. & Hieke, Sophie & Wills, Josephine, 2014. "Sustainability labels on food products: Consumer motivation, understanding and use," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 177-189.
    22. Nadia Palmieri & Walter Stefanoni & Francesco Latterini & Luigi Pari, 2021. "An Italian Explorative Study of Willingness to Pay for a New Functional Pasta Featuring Opuntia ficus indica," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-11, July.
    23. Bernardo Martin-Gorriz & José A. Zabala & Virginia Sánchez-Navarro & Belén Gallego-Elvira & Víctor Martínez-García & Francisco Alcon & José Francisco Maestre-Valero, 2022. "Intercropping Practices in Mediterranean Mandarin Orchards from an Environmental and Economic Perspective," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-17, April.
    24. Haghani, Milad & Bliemer, Michiel C.J. & Rose, John M. & Oppewal, Harmen & Lancsar, Emily, 2021. "Hypothetical bias in stated choice experiments: Part II. Conceptualisation of external validity, sources and explanations of bias and effectiveness of mitigation methods," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    25. Rosa-Schleich, Julia & Loos, Jacqueline & Mußhoff, Oliver & Tscharntke, Teja, 2019. "Ecological-economic trade-offs of Diversified Farming Systems – A review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 251-263.
    26. Fenna Arnoldussen & Mark J. Koetse & Sander M. de Bruyn & Onno Kuik, 2022. "What Are People Willing to Pay for Social Sustainability? A Choice Experiment among Dutch Consumers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-21, November.
    27. Barbara Pancino & Emanuele Blasi & Anne Rappoldt & Stefano Pascucci & Luca Ruini & Cesare Ronchi, 2019. "Partnering for sustainability in agri-food supply chains: the case of Barilla Sustainable Farming in the Po Valley," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, December.
    28. Panico, Teresa & Del Giudice, Teresa & Caracciolo, Francesco, 2014. "Quality dimensions and consumer preferences: A choice experiment in the Italian extra-virgin olive oil market," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 15(2), pages 1-13.
    29. Choi, Andy S. & Fielding, Kelly S., 2013. "Environmental attitudes as WTP predictors: A case study involving endangered species," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 24-32.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wuepper, David & Clemm, Alexandra & Wree, Philipp, 2019. "The preference for sustainable coffee and a new approach for dealing with hypothetical bias," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 475-486.
    2. Robert J. Johnston & Kevin J. Boyle & Wiktor (Vic) Adamowicz & Jeff Bennett & Roy Brouwer & Trudy Ann Cameron & W. Michael Hanemann & Nick Hanley & Mandy Ryan & Riccardo Scarpa & Roger Tourangeau & Ch, 2017. "Contemporary Guidance for Stated Preference Studies," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(2), pages 319-405.
    3. Baker, Rick & Ruting, Brad, 2014. "Environmental Policy Analysis: A Guide to Non‑Market Valuation," 2014 Conference (58th), February 4-7, 2014, Port Macquarie, Australia 165810, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    4. María D. Bovea & Valeria Ibáñez-Forés & Victoria Pérez-Belis & Pablo Juan & Marta Braulio-Gonzalo & Carlos Díaz-Ávalos, 2018. "Incorporation of Circular Aspects into Product Design and Labelling: Consumer Preferences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-17, July.
    5. Reinhard Uehleke & Bodo Sturm, 2017. "The Influence of Collective Action on the Demand for Voluntary Climate Change Mitigation in Hypothetical and Real Situations," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 67(3), pages 429-454, July.
    6. Carlsson, Fredrik & Kataria, Mitesh & Krupnick, Alan & Lampi, Elina & Löfgren, Åsa & Qin, Ping & Sterner, Thomas, 2013. "The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth—A multiple country test of an oath script," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 105-121.
    7. Cordula Hinkes & Inken Christoph-Schulz, 2020. "No Palm Oil or Certified Sustainable Palm Oil? Heterogeneous Consumer Preferences and the Role of Information," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-26, September.
    8. Halkos, George, 2012. "The use of contingent valuation in assessing marine and coastal ecosystems’ water quality: A review," MPRA Paper 42183, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Dardanoni, Valentino & Guerriero, Carla, 2021. "Young people' s willingness to pay for environmental protection," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    10. Venus, Terese E. & Sauer, Johannes, 2022. "Certainty pays off: The public's value of environmental monitoring," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    11. Jiang, Qi & Penn, Jerrod & Hu, Wuyang, 2022. "Real payment priming to reduce potential hypothetical bias," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    12. Rebecca C. A. Tobi & Francesca Harris & Ritu Rana & Kerry A. Brown & Matthew Quaife & Rosemary Green, 2019. "Sustainable Diet Dimensions. Comparing Consumer Preference for Nutrition, Environmental and Social Responsibility Food Labelling: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-22, November.
    13. Leonard Maaya & Michel Meulders & Nick Surmont & Martina Vandebroek, 2018. "Effect of Environmental and Altruistic Attitudes on Willingness-to-Pay for Organic and Fair Trade Coffee in Flanders," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, November.
    14. Fuchsman, Dillon & McGee, Josh B. & Zamarro, Gema, 2023. "Teachers’ willingness to pay for retirement benefits: A national stated preferences experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    15. Frode Alfnes & Chengyan Yue & Helen H. Jensen, 2010. "Cognitive dissonance as a means of reducing hypothetical bias," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 37(2), pages 147-163, June.
    16. Lehmann, Nico & Sloot, Daniel & Schüle, Christopher & Ardone, Armin & Fichtner, Wolf, 2023. "The motivational drivers behind consumer preferences for regional electricity – Results of a choice experiment in Southern Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    17. Printezis, Iryna & Grebitus, Carola, 2018. "Marketing Channels for Local Food," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 161-171.
    18. Danilo Bertoni & Daniele Cavicchioli & Franco Donzelli & Giovanni Ferrazzi & Dario G. Frisio & Roberto Pretolani & Elena Claire Ricci & Vera Ventura, 2018. "Recent Contributions of Agricultural Economics Research in the Field of Sustainable Development," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-20, December.
    19. Bartczak, Anna, 2015. "The role of social and environmental attitudes in non-market valuation," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 357-365.
    20. Yokessa, Maïmouna & Marette, Stéphan, 2019. "A Review of Eco-labels and their Economic Impact," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 13(1-2), pages 119-163, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:3:p:585-:d:1082652. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.