Browsing by discipline "ympäristöekonomia"

The purpose of this study is to examine the potential demand for Finnish indigenous cattle meat. The specialty product markets for indigenous cattle meat can help to keep these rare, native breeds in production use. Therefore the markets can provide means to preserve valuable Finnish animal genetic resources. Because the profitability of the production of specialty meat product depends on it’s price premium, this study also examines consumers’ willingness to pay for indigenous cattle meat compared to conventional meat. The data was collected in the spring 2010 with survey designed by MTT Agrifood Research Finland and National Consumer Research Center. Both contingent behavior and contingent valuation methods were used in the study. The sample size of the study is 1623. Consumers’ willingness to purchase and the factors affecting it were studied with binary and ordered regression models. Consumers’ willingness to pay for indigenous cattle meat and the factors affecting it were studied with grouped data regression model. In addition to the socio-economic variables, also variables describing consumers’ attitudes and behavior were used as explanatory variables in the models. The results show that up to 86 % of respondents would purchase indigenous cattle meat if it was available in stores. The most relevant variables affecting consumers’ willingness to purchase were gender (female) (-), household with children aged under 18 (+) and positive attitude towards local food (+) and environmental friendliness (+). The majority of respondents would buy indigenous cattle meat if it was as expensive as conventional meat, but about a quarter (23.5 %) of respondents would be willing to pay a higher price for indigenous cattle meat than for conventional meat. The variables affecting consumers’ willingness to pay included for example gender (female) (-), income (+) and being part of some environmental organization (+). The average willingness to pay for indigenous cattle meat was 6,25 % higher than for conventional meat among all respondents. Willingness to pay was clearly linked to how often the respondent would be willing to buy indigenous cattle meat. Willingness to pay was highest among those respondents who would like to buy meat on a regular basis.