Farm animal welfare in livestock production is a topical and important issue attracting growing interest of policy makers, consumers, stakeholders in the supply chain and others. While there is much public interest in the issue this is not reflected in the supply and market shares of animal food products that are produced under welfare standards that exceed legislative requirements. Given the obstacles to devising stricter legislative standards, higher welfare animal food products are mostly made available through market-based approaches. This paper discusses different challenges and opportunities for a range of public and consumer policies and makes recommendations on how these might be strengthened. The paper does not report primary empirical findings but assembles available knowledge on citizen and consumer attitudes and perceptions towards animal welfare from various research disciplines. We argue that in order for public and consumer policies to be (more) efficient and effective, it is important to develop a segmented and targeted strategy. This paper will thus elaborate on what information could and should be provided to whom. This implies the need for a good understanding of how people conceptualize farm animal welfare. Further, information provisioning should address the needs and expectations of those specific consumer segments most likely to be motivated to purchase higher welfare products. Based on the assembled information, opportunities and challenges for information provisioning and communication to the public and consumers are identified. The merits and limitations of different forms of information provisioning and animal welfare labelling are discussed and recommendations are set forth for future research.

Public and Consumer Policies for Higher Welfare Food Products: Challenges and Opportunities

The results of two independent empirical studies with Flemish citizens were combined to address the problem of a short fall of information provision about higher welfare products. The research objectives were (1) to improve our understanding of how citizens conceptualize farm animal welfare, (2) to analyze the variety in the claimed personal relevance of animal welfare in the food purchasing decision process, and (3) to find out people’s needs in relation to product information about animal welfare and the extent to which the current information caters to these needs. The first study consisted of a survey conducted in three consecutive years (2000–2002, n = 521) and was complemented with more recent qualitative data from four focus group discussions (2006, n = 29). Citizens’ conceptualization of farm animal welfare matched reasonably well with those in the scientific literature, although it is clearly influenced by a lower level of practical experience and a higher weight of empathy. In general, respondents indicated that animal welfare was an important product attribute, although it was less important than primary product attributes such as quality, health, and safety. Moral issues, rather than a perception of higher quality, were the main influence on preferences for higher welfare products. At present, higher standards of animal welfare are mostly guaranteed within more general quality assurance schemes. Yet people’s decisions to not choose higher welfare products seems to be related to the perceptual disconnection between eating animal food products and the living producing animals. Respondents generally thought better information provision was required and the present level of provision was strongly criticized. In combination, the findings of both studies help inform the discussion about how citizens can be informed about animal welfare and the preferred content, source, and medium of such information. The paper also provides insights into citizens’ semantic interpretation of the concept of animal welfare (what wordings they use) and the range of relevance that animal welfare has for different groups that, in turn is useful in identifying which segments can be targeted. This can contribute to a more effective valorization of animal welfare as a product attribute.

Citizens’ Views on Farm Animal Welfare and Related Information Provision: Exploratory Insights from Flanders, Belgium

Buying higher welfare poultry products? Profiling Flemish consumers who do and do not

Determinants of consumer intention to purchase animal-friendly milk

Consumers have increasing, but highly variable, interest in sustainability attributes of food, including ethical aspects, such as animal welfare. We explored market opportunities for animal-friendly cow’s milk based on segmentation (cluster) analysis. Flemish survey participants (n = 787) were clustered (n = 6) based on their intention to purchase (IP) animal-friendly milk, and their evaluation of cows’ welfare state (EV). Three market opportunity segments were derived from clusters and labelled as “high”, “moderate” and “limited”. Only 8% of the participants belong to the “high market opportunities” segment, characterized by a high IP and a low EV. The “limited” segment (44%) indicated a neutral to low IP and a positive EV. The “moderate” segment (48%) had a moderately positive IP and positive/negative EV. Reported willingness to pay, interest in information about the state of animal welfare and importance of the product attribute “animal welfare” differed among segments and were strongly related to IP. Most promising selling propositions about animal-friendly milk were related to pasture access. The high degree of differentiation within the Flemish milk market reveals market opportunities for animal-friendly milk, but for an effective market share increase supply of animal-friendly products needs to get more aligned with the heterogeneous demand.

https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8509514/file/8509519.pdf

Market Opportunities for Animal-Friendly Milk in Different Consumer Segments

Het verbeteren van dierenwelzijn tot een niveau dat uitstijgt boven het wettelijke minimum wordt overgelaten aan de markt. LNV wil dit proces onder andere stimuleren door een dierenwelzijnsindex te ontwikkelen. Omdat een verbetering van het dierenwelzijn onvermijdelijk lijkt verbonden met extra kosten, is de prijs in zowel de consumentenmarkt als in de rest van de keten een belangrijke barriere voor de verbetering van dierenwelzijn in de veehouderij. Dit rapport is gericht op hoe deze meerkosten van dierenwelzijn gemanaged kunnen worden. Daartoe is een literatuuronderzoek uitgevoerd gericht op consumenten, retailers en ketens. The improvement of animal welfare to a level that is significantly higher than the statutory minimum is currently left down to market forces. The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality is keen to encourage this process through the development of an animal welfare index, for example. Since an improvement in animal welfare would inevitably appear to be connected with extra costs, the price forms a significant barrier to the improvement of animal welfare in livestock production, both in the consumer market and in the rest of the chain. This report focuses on how these additional costs of animal welfare can be managed. To this end, a literature study was carried out, focusing on consumers, retailers and chains.

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Betalen voor dierenwelzijn: barrières en oplossingsrichtingen in consumentenmarkten en business-to-business markten

Dit rapport bevat in het eerste deel het resultaat van een studie naar de opvattingen van con-sumenten over dierenwelzijn en de rol die dit aspect speelt bij hun koopbeslissingen. In het tweede deel wordt ingegaan op de strategieen van detaillisten en de rol die dierenwelzijn in Nederlandse en Europese supermarkten speelt. Het derde en laatste deel heeft betrekking op de wensen en invloed van belangenorganisaties (dierenbescherming en Europese consumen-tenorganisatie BEUC) ten aanzien van dierenwelzijn. In the first part, this report describes the results of research into the opinions of consumers about animal welfare and the role this plays in their purchasing decisions. In the second part, the strategies of retailers and the role animal welfare plays in the Dutch and European super-markets are explored. The third and final part covers the wishes and influence of interest groups (animal protection societies and the European consumer organisation BEUC) concern-ing animal welfare

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Dierenwelzijn in de markt : een drieluik van consumenten, retailers en belangenorganisaties in Europa

Een verbetering van het dierenwelzijn in de veehouderij moet door de werking van de markt tot stand komen. Een zogenoemde dierenwelzijnsindex kan erbij helpen om de mate van dierenwelzijn naar de consument te communiceren

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J.C.M. van Trijp

Papers

Betalen voor dierenwelzijn: barrières en oplossingsrichtingen in consumentenmarkten en business-to-business markten

Dierenwelzijn in de markt : een drieluik van consumenten, retailers en belangenorganisaties in Europa

Dierenwelzijn in de markt