74: Consumer Preferences for Organic Foods

Wier, Mette; Hansen, Lars Gaarn; Moerch Andersen, Laura and Millock, Katrin (2002) Consumer Preferences for Organic Foods. Paper presented at OECD Workshop on Organic Agriculture, Washington D.C., USA, Sept. 2002.

Summary

The Danish market is especially well suited for consumer analyses, because the Danish market for organic foods is relatively mature, meaning that it does not suffer seriously from the supply shortages and barriers, which dominate most of the markets outside Denmark. The well-functioning Danish market makes it possible to collect and analyse reliable data on purchases. Our study istinguishes itself by being based on observations of stated as well as actual purchasing behaviour of a large number of organic as well as conventional foods. The project applies information at the individual household level (panel data), which makes possible a detailed and informative approach. The panel data was provided by a marketing
research company. In addition, the modelling is supported by a questionnaire, surveying households in the
very same panel as applied in the model estimations. An essential feature and ultimate strength of the project is that it can reveal differences between actual and postulated behaviour and enlarge the analyses by information on attitudes, values, food habits/eating patterns and food interests. In the paper, preliminary results from the project are presented.

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