Consumers require higher animal welfare standards - are they willing to pay for them? Key for the marketing of higher animal welfare meat products

摘要

Modern animal husbandry is increasingly criticized by society. Despite this, current research lacks in analyzing explicit requirements by consumer towards animal-friendly livestock farming. Additionally, it remains unclear how citizens react if they are confronted with trade-offs, which demand to prioritize citizens' requirements. By means of four focus group discussions with consumers in four different cities in Germany in 2016, we tackle the above described research gap. To elaborate on the trade-offs, consumers were given neutral and balanced information about the impacts on farm level. Using this contrasting description of trade-offs, we asked participants to develop and discuss their own proposals for solution. Results indicate that participants prefer production standards that are close to nature. Furthermore, participants state that they as consumers are responsible for this lock-in and justify their behavior by the fact that they often cannot transfer their preferences for animal welfare products into purchase behavior. Consumers stated that this behavioral gap is not only due to economic constraints but also to nontransparent products. We recommend that the agribusiness and food industry should increase its transparency by improving its communication with citizens. Furthermore, the process of change to increase farm animal welfare should be pursued more intensively.