Kaufmotive und Zahlungsbereitschaften für Erzeuger-Fair- Milch-Produkte der Upländer Bauernmolkerei

Summary

Fair trade conditions not only in intercontinental trade but also for European farmers are currently widely discussed. A successful example is the Producer-Fair-Milk-Initiative of the Hessian dairy Upländer Bauernmolkerei. Started in 2005, organic buyers are asked to pay an extra 5 eurocent per litre milk, which is transferred to the dairy’s farmers. The aim of this paper is to analyse consumer knowledge on the initiative and to investigate the most important buying motives for fair milk products.
Furthermore, the importance consumers attach to the initiative’s central motives ‘fair prices’, ‘organic’ and ‘regional production’ is determined by asking them for their additional willingness to pay for these attributes of milk.
By means of a standardised questionnaire 577 consumers were interviewed in six organic food shops and 565 interviews were statistically evaluated. The results illustrate that the central motives of the initiative are well known by a majority of consumers and represent important buying motives for these milk products. The dairy seems to be very successful in communicating the initiative’s objectives. Many organic consumers claim to be willing to pay higher prices for specific attributes. Communication of ‘fair prices’, ‘GMO-free’, ‘food quality’ and ‘regional production’ may offer promising product differentiation possibilities for organic farmers as well as processors.