IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jodeso/v40y2024i2p238-256.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Consumer Information Drives Willingness to Pay for Low Emissions Milk and Beef

Author

Listed:
  • Lois Charlotte Taylor

    (Symbrosia, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii)

  • Annika Johnson

    (Roberts Environmental Center of Claremont McKenna College and Symbrosia, Claremont, California)

  • Diya-Courty-Stephens

    (Roberts Environmental Center of Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, California)

Abstract

An emerging innovation in the sustainable food space is low methane emissions in beef and dairy products. A leader in this space is Symbrosia, 1 an innovative aquaculture company based in Hawai’i. They produce SeaGraze™, a feed additive derived from the red algae Asparagopsis taxformis, which is designed for ruminant 2 livestock producers to reduce the methane emissions of their livestock by more than 80%. However, the feed additive SeaGraze™ represents an additional cost for livestock producers, and the consumer demand for low methane emissions beef and dairy products is relatively unknown. This study explores consumer demand and the willingness to pay for low emissions beef and dairy products. It reports on a survey of 495 participants, which found product-informed consumers are willing to pay between 51.7% and 72.3% more for low emissions milk and between 0.6% and 8.6% more for low emissions beef. A regression analysis found the most notable driver of consumer preference and willingness to pay more for these products was product information. This suggests that effective advertising of low methane emissions products is necessary for their financial success. These results should encourage producers in other countries to expand the production and consumption of these kinds of products to curb methane emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Lois Charlotte Taylor & Annika Johnson & Diya-Courty-Stephens, 2024. "Consumer Information Drives Willingness to Pay for Low Emissions Milk and Beef," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 40(2), pages 238-256, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:40:y:2024:i:2:p:238-256
    DOI: 10.1177/0169796X241255272
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0169796X241255272
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0169796X241255272?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steven Bond-Smith & Peter Fuleky, 2023. "The effects of the pandemic on the economy of Hawaii," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(23), pages 3846-3852, December.
    2. Flores, Nicholas E. & Carson, Richard T., 1997. "The Relationship between the Income Elasticities of Demand and Willingness to Pay," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 287-295, July.
    3. Li, Shanshan & Kallas, Zein, 2021. "Meta-Analysis of Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Food Products," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 314970, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Jennifer Tkac, 1998. "The Effects of Information on Willingness-to-Pay Values of Endangered Species," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1214-1220.
    5. Mark Pennington & Manuel Gomes & Cam Donaldson, 2017. "Handling Protest Responses in Contingent Valuation Surveys," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 37(6), pages 623-634, August.
    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. Pamela Wicker & John C. Whitehead & Bruce K. Johnson & Daniel S. Mason, 2016. "Willingness-To-Pay For Sporting Success Of Football Bundesliga Teams," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 34(3), pages 446-462, July.
    2. Stina Hökby & Tore Söderqvist, 2003. "Elasticities of Demand and Willingness to Pay for Environmental Services in Sweden," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 26(3), pages 361-383, November.
    3. Shan Jin & Yasuhiro Matsuoka & Meng Yue & Glyn Jones & Lynn J. Frewer, 2024. "Does information about environmental considerations affect Chinese and UK consumers’ purchase intentions for traced foods? A path analysis," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(12), pages 32287-32318, December.
    4. Moritz A. Drupp & Martin C. Hänsel, 2021. "Relative Prices and Climate Policy: How the Scarcity of Nonmarket Goods Drives Policy Evaluation," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 168-201, February.
    5. Thomas Broberg, 2010. "Income Treatment Effects in Contingent Valuation: The Case of the Swedish Predator Policy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 46(1), pages 1-17, May.
    6. Ildikó Kovács & Marietta Balázsné Lendvai & Judit Beke, 2022. "The Importance of Food Attributes and Motivational Factors for Purchasing Local Food Products: Segmentation of Young Local Food Consumers in Hungary," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-14, March.
    7. Nurmi, Väinö & Ahtiainen, Heini, 2018. "Distributional Weights in Environmental Valuation and Cost-benefit Analysis: Theory and Practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 217-228.
    8. Solomon Hsiang & Paulina Oliva & Reed Walker, 2019. "The Distribution of Environmental Damages," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 13(1), pages 83-103.
    9. Richard Carson & Nicholas Flores & Norman Meade, 2001. "Contingent Valuation: Controversies and Evidence," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 19(2), pages 173-210, June.
    10. Hoehn, John P. & Randall, Alan, 2002. "The effect of resource quality information on resource injury perceptions and contingent values," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1-2), pages 13-31, February.
    11. Richard T. Carson, 2011. "Contingent Valuation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2489.
    12. Tisdell, Clem & Nantha, Hemanath Swarna & Wilson, Clevo, 2007. "Endangerment and likeability of wildlife species: How important are they for payments proposed for conservation?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 627-633, January.
    13. Vossler, Christian A. & Watson, Sharon B., 2013. "Understanding the consequences of consequentiality: Testing the validity of stated preferences in the field," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 137-147.
    14. Volker Lingnau & Florian Fuchs & Florian Beham, 2022. "The link between corporate sustainability and willingness to invest: new evidence from the field of ethical investments," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 335-369, September.
    15. Clevo Wilson & Clem Tisdell, 2007. "How Knowledge Affects Payment To Conserve An Endangered Bird," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 25(2), pages 226-237, April.
    16. Ana Bobinac & Job Exel & Frans Rutten & Werner Brouwer, 2014. "The Value of a QALY: Individual Willingness to Pay for Health Gains Under Risk," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 75-86, January.
    17. Udo Ebert, 2003. "Environmental Goods and the Distribution of Income," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 25(4), pages 435-459, August.
    18. Ologunebi, John & Taiwo, Ebenezer & All, Kazeem, 2024. "Digital Consumer Behavior in E-commerce: A Study of Amazon and Temu's Customer Purchase Decision-Making Processes in the UK and the USA," MPRA Paper 123096, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Marjon van der Pol & Verity Watson & Dwayne Boyers, 2024. "Stability of Willingness to Pay: Does Time and Treatment Allocation in a Randomized Controlled Trial Influence Willingness to Pay?," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 44(5), pages 470-480, July.
    20. Dritan Osmani, 2013. "Valuing Equally the Environmental Goods in Rich and Poor Countries in a Post-Kyoto World," Czech Economic Review, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, vol. 7(2), pages 073-099, July.

    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:sae:jodeso:v:40:y:2024:i:2:p:238-256. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.