Application of structural equation modelling to develop a conceptual model for smallholder's credit access: The mediation of agility and innovativeness in organic food value chain finance.

Developing a conceptual model is vital for small-scale organic farmer's credit access to sustain the livelihoods. However, smallholders continually face severe problems in getting finance that lead to reduce investment and in turn, challenges the livelihoods. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to establish and empirically test a theoretical model to explore how agility and innovativeness in organic food value chain finance are achieved through ITI, TRST, CG, ICT, and IS, and how these, in turn, can accelerate financial flow in the value chain and enhance competitiveness. The present study used a survey method and collected data from small-scale farmers, traders, and financial institutions. The model and hypothesis are tested using data obtained from 331 respondents through partial least square structure equation modeling techniques. We argue that development of theoretical model show potential to increase creditworthiness of smallholders and overcome uncertainties that impede traditional value chain credit arrangement. Thus, the present study could provide new ways to integrate the value chain partners, through information and communication technology and governance arrangements in the organic food value chain financing. This study demonstrates that the mediations of innovativeness and agility significantly affect the development of new financial products to make agile the financial flow, which in turn positively influences value chain competitiveness. Significant judgments are required for trustworthy relations among the value chain partners to positively harness innovative product development for swifter value chain finance. Therefore, this theoretical model should not be regarded as a quick solution, but a process of testing, error, and learning by doing so.

Compra e venda de alimentos orgânicos para a alimentação escolar: dificuldades e estratégias de superação / Purchase and sale of organic foods for school feeding: difficulties and strategies to overcome

Objetivo: Foram avaliadas as dificuldades no processo de compra /venda de produtos orgânicos da agricultura familiar para a alimentação escolar em 21 municípios do Sul do Brasil e identificadas as ações para superá-las. Métodos: Estudo quali-quantitativo realizado mediante entrevistas semiestruturadas com 111 informantes-chave envolvidos na alimentação escolar. Os entrevistados foram arguidos sobre as dificuldades da compra / venda de alimentos orgânicos para a alimentação escolar e sobre as ações que estão sendo desenvolvidas e/ou em planejamento para superação dessas problemáticas. Realizou-se análise descritiva das perguntas fechadas com base na distribuição da frequência e análise de conteúdo com codificação e categorização das questões abertas. Resultados: A maioria dos municípios (n=19) não comprava alimentos orgânicos provenientes da agricultura familiar. A pouca disponibilidade de mercado fornecedor e a baixa produção de alimentos orgânicos foram as dificuldades mais relatadas. Em contrapartida, os custos elevados dos produtos e a ausência de interesse da gestão pública na aquisição de alimentos orgânicos foram dificuldades pouco citadas. Os entrevistados apontaram que a compra/venda poderia aumentar com o fortalecimento dos processos de certificação participativa e se os envolvidos tivessem maiores informações sobre os benefícios e riscos dos modelos produtivos. Conclusões: Evidenciaram-se o fortalecimento da assistência técnica e extensão rural, desenvolvimento das regulamentações e incentivos para a certificação orgânica, apoio e investimento para a certificação participativa e orientações técnicas são estratégias necessárias para o incentivo da produção e consumo de alimentos orgânicos na alimentação humana. (AU)

Objective: To evaluate the difficulties in the process of buying/selling organic products from family farming for school meals in 21 municipalities in southern Brazil and to take actions to overcome them. Methods: This is a qualitative and quantitative study through semi-structured interviews with 111 key informants involved in school meals. The interviewees were asked about the difficulties of buying/selling organic food for school meals and about the actions developed and/or in planning to overcome these problems. Descriptive analysis of closed questions was performed based on frequency distribution and content analysis with coding and categorization of open questions. Results: Most municipalities (n = 19) did not buy organic food from family farming. The limited availability of the supplier market and the low production of organic foods were the most reported difficulties. On the other hand, the high costs of the products and the lack of interest by the public management in the acquisition of organic foods were difficulties little mentioned. Respondents highlighted that buying/selling could increase with the strengthening of participatory certification processes and if those involved had more information about the benefits and risks of productive models. Conclusions: The strengthening of technical assistance and rural extension, development of regulations and incentives for organic certification, support and investment for participatory certification, and technical guidelines were necessary strategies to encourage the production and consumption of organic human food. (AU)

Environmental Consciousness and Organic Food Purchase Intention: A Moderated Mediation Model of Perceived Food Quality and Price Sensitivity.

As purchase power and consumption knowledge increase, consumers gradually demand safer and healthier products. In addition, consumers focus greater attention on organic food. This study investigates the relationship between environmental consciousness and organic food purchase intention with the mediating roles of perceived food quality and price sensitivity. The objective is to shed new light on our understanding of consumers' perceptions and behavioral intentions toward organic food. Using sample data of 518 consumers in different food retailers in China, empirical results show that environmental consciousness has a positive impact on organic food purchase intention. Perceived food quality has a mediating effect on the link between environmental consciousness and organic food purchase intention. Price sensitivity moderates the relationship between perceived food quality and organic food purchase intention. Furthermore, price sensitivity moderates the indirect effect of environmental consciousness on organic food purchase intention through perceived food quality.

A little good is good enough: Ethical consumption, cheap excuses, and moral self-licensing.

This paper explores the role of cheap excuses in product choice. If agents feel that they fulfill one ethical aspect, they may care less about other independent ethical facets within product choice. Choosing a product that fulfills one ethical aspect may then suffice for maintaining a high moral self-image in agents and render it easier to ignore other ethically relevant aspects they would otherwise care about more. The use of such cheap excuses could thus lead to a "static moral self-licensing" effect, and this would extend the logic of the well-known dynamic moral self-licensing. Our experimental study provides empirical evidence that the static counterpart of moral self-licensing exists. Furthermore, effects spill over to unrelated, ethically relevant contexts later in time. Thus, static moral self-licensing and dynamic moral self-licensing can exist next to each other. However, it is critical that agents do not feel that they fulfilled an ethical criterion out of sheer luck, that is, agents need some room so that they can attribute the ethical improvement at least partly to themselves. Outsiders, although monetarily incentivized for correct estimates, are completely oblivious to the effects of moral self-licensing, both static and dynamic.

How Consumers in the UK and Spain Value the Coexistence of the Claims Low Fat, Local, Organic and Low Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

This study investigates the substitution and complementary effects for beef mince attributes drawing on data from large choice experiments conducted in the UK and Spain. In both countries, consumers were found to be willing to pay a price premium for the individual use of the labels "Low Fat" (UK: €3.41, Spain: €1.94), "Moderate Fat" (UK: €2.23, Spain: €1.57), "Local" (UK: €1.54, Spain: €1.61), "National" (UK: €1.33, Spain: €1.37), "Organic" (UK: €1.02, Spain: €1.09) and "Low Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG)" (UK: €2.05, Spain: €0.96). The results showed that consumers in both countries do not treat desirable food attributes as unrelated. In particular, consumers in Spain are willing to pay a price premium for the use of the labels "Local", "Organic" and "Low GHG" on beef mince that is also labelled as having low or moderate fat content. By contrast, consumers in the UK were found to discount the coexistence of the labels "Low Fat" and "Organic", "Low Fat" and "Low GHG" and "Moderate Fat" and "Low GHG". The results, however, suggest that in the UK the demand for beef mince with moderate (low) fat content can be increased if it is also labelled as "Organic" or "Low GHG" ("Local").

Why don't consumers buy organic lamb meat? A Spanish case study.

The fall in lamb meat consumption makes it necessary to determine strategies to increase its consumption and the viability of livestock farms. Given this scenario, organic lamb meat emerges as a product with major growth potential. Using crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis (csQCA), this study analyses the profile of lamb meat consumers who decide against consuming organic lamb meat, identifying the main reasons they give for this decision. The findings reveal two majority segments of non-consumers of organic lamb meat, corresponding to 44.2% and 32.8% of conventional lamb meat consumers. In these segments, the main reasons given for non-consumption of lamb meat are, in the following order, supply, higher price and the lack of guarantees that the meat is actually organic. Thus, increasing organic lamb meat consumption necessarily involves greater efforts in the supply chain and greater promotion of information about the controls that guarantee the quality of certified organic lamb.

Rural-urban differences in willingness to pay for organic vegetables: Evidence from Vietnam.

Concerns about food safety together with rising disposable income means consumers in developing countries are willing to pay more for safe and high-quality food such as organic vegetables. At the same time, socioeconomic profiles differ in rural versus urban areas leading to differing intakes. This paper investigates regional differences in the determinants of willingness to pay (WTP) for organic vegetables in Vietnam. A contingent valuation survey was used to collect information on consumer preferences of organic vegetables in two regions of Hanoi. Using interval regression model, we found that consumer perception about organic vegetables, trust in labels, and disposable family income increased WTP for organic vegetables in both urban and rural regions. Risk perception of conventional vegetables was high in both regions. However, higher WTP prevailed only in the rural region. Besides, growing vegetables at home affected the WTP only in the rural region while education played a role in the WTP in the urban region. Since rural and urban consumers have different preferences toward organic food, they should not be treated as a homogenous group in formulating organic food policy. This paper also shows that very high price of organic vegetables and lack of trust in organic labels are key barriers to organic purchase. Thus, creating more trust and reducing the price of organic vegetables through lowering certification cost might be a good strategy to expand the organic vegetable market in Vietnam.

Consumers' Willingness to Pay for Organic Foods in China: Bibliometric Review for an Emerging Literature.

We conducted a bibliometric review on a small but promising body of literature on consumers' willingness to pay for organic foods in China. Results found that consumers' health consciousness, individual norms, consumer knowledge, food safety, environmental concerns, animal welfare, and purchasing power are major influencing factors for willingness to pay for organic foods in China. Notably, most research methods utilized are quantitative methods, leading us to call for the adoption of more qualitative, review, or mixed-methods. These findings increase our understanding of the knowledge structure of this emerging context-specific literature.

Improvement of diet sustainability with increased level of organic food in the diet: findings from the BioNutriNet cohort.

BACKGROUND: Organic food consumption has steadily increased over the past decade in westernized countries. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study, based on observational data, was to compare some sustainability features of diets from consumers with varying levels of organic food. METHODS: The diet sustainability among 29,210 participants of the NutriNet-Santé study was estimated using databases developed within the BioNutriNet project. Four dimensions (nutrition, environment, economy, and toxicology) of diet sustainability were assessed using: 1) nutritional indicators through dietary intakes and dietary scores, and BMI; 2) environmental indicators (greenhouse gas emissions, cumulative energy demand, and land occupation); 3) economic indicators via diet monetary costs; and 4) estimated daily food exposures to 15 pesticides. Adjusted means (95% CI) across weighted quintiles of organic food consumption in the diet were estimated via ANCOVA. Breakdown methods were used to disentangle the contribution of the production system (organic compared with conventional) from the dietary pattern in the variation of diet-related environmental impacts, monetary costs, and pesticide exposure, between the 2 extreme quintiles. RESULTS: Higher organic food consumption was associated with higher plant-food and lower animal-food consumption, overall nutritional quality (higher dietary scores), and lower BMI. Diet-related greenhouse-gas emissions, cumulative energy demand, and land occupation gradually decreased with increasing organic food consumption, whereas total diet monetary cost increased. Diet exposure to most pesticides decreased across quintiles. CONCLUSIONS: Diets of high organic food consumers were generally characterized by strong nutritional and environmental benefits. The latter were mostly driven by the low consumption of animal-based foods, whereas the production system was responsible for the higher diet monetary costs, and the overall reduced dietary pesticide exposure.

Cradle-to-grave carbon footprint of dried organic pasta: assessment and potential mitigation measures.

BACKGROUND: In several Environmental Product Declarations, the business-to-business carbon footprint (CFCDC ) of durum wheat semolina dried pasta ranged from 0.57 to 1.72 kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e ) kg-1 . In this work, the business-to-consumer carbon footprint (CFCG ) of 1 kg of dry decorticated organic durum wheat semolina pasta, as packed in 0.5 kg polypropylene bags by a South Italian medium-sized pasta factory in the years 2016 and 2017, was assessed in compliance with the Publicly Available Specification 2050 standard method. RESULTS: Whereas CFCDC was mostly conditioned by the greenhouse gases emitted throughout durum wheat cultivation (0.67 vs 1.12 kg CO2e kg-1 ), CFCG was mainly dependent on the use and post-consume phases (0.68 vs 1.81 kg CO2e kg-1 ). CFCG was more or less affected by the pasta types and packing formats used, since it varied from +0.3 to +14.8% with respect to the minimum score estimated (1.74 kg CO2e kg-1 ), which corresponded to long goods packed in 3 kg bags for catering service. Once the main hotspots had been identified, CFCG was stepwise reduced by resorting to a series of mitigation actions. CONCLUSION: Use of more eco-sustainable cooking practices, organic durum wheat kernels resulting from less impacting cultivation techniques, and renewable resources to generate the thermal and electric energy needs reduced CFCG by about 58% with respect to the above reference case. Finally, by shifting from road to rail freight transport and shortening the supply logistics of dry pasta and grains, a further 5% reduction in CFCG was achieved. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

The distributional impact of a green payment policy for organic fruit.

Consumer spending on organic food products has grown rapidly. Some claim that organics have ecological, equity, and health advantages over conventional food and therefore should be subsidized. Here we explore the distributive impacts of an organic fruit subsidy that reduces the retail price of organic fruit in the US by 10 percent. We estimate the impact of the subsidy on organic fruit demand in a representative poor, middle income, and rich US household using three analytical methods; including two econometric and one machine learning. We do not find strong evidence of regressive redistribution due to our simulated organic fruit subsidy; the poor household's relative reaction to the subsidy is not much different than the reaction at the other two households. However, the infra-marginal savings from the subsidy tend to be larger in richer households.

Inverse Association between Organic Food Purchase and Diabetes Mellitus in US Adults.

BACKGROUND: The organic food market has grown rapidly worldwide in the past 15 years. However, evidence concerning the health effects of organic foods is scarce. We evaluated the cross-sectional association of organic food purchase, as a proxy of organic food consumption, with diabetes in a nationally representative population. METHODS: We included 8199 participants aged ≥20 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007⁻2008 and 2009⁻2010. Organic food purchase and frequency were ascertained by questionnaires. Diabetes was defined as a self-reported physician diagnosis or a hemoglobin A1c level ≥6.5% or both. We used logistic regression with sample weights to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Individuals who reported purchasing organic foods were less likely to have diabetes compared to those who did not report organic food purchase. After adjustment for age, gender, race/ethnicity, family history of diabetes, socioeconomic status, and dietary and lifestyle factors, the OR of diabetes associated with organic food purchase was 0.80 (95% CI 0.68⁻0.93). The association remained significant after additional adjustment for BMI with OR of 0.80 (0.69⁻0.94). CONCLUSIONS: In a nationally representative population, frequent organic food purchase was inversely associated with diabetes prevalence in adults in the United States.

Rabbit meat production and consumption: State of knowledge and future perspectives.

Since the 1970s, in some European countries rabbit meat production has progressively become a highly specialized industry, which has made Europe the second (after China) largest rabbit meat producer in the world. However, the industry is currently facing a critical period due to structural weaknesses, progressive and constant reductions in consumption, and raising criticism related to welfare conditions and other ethical issues. This trend is questioning the future of the rabbit meat industry, which could lead to the loss of knowledge and technical expertise acquired over decades of major investments and research efforts (a valuable cultural and professional heritage for future generations). In the present review, we provide an overview of the rabbit meat industry, market and value chain, we depict consumer's attitude towards rabbit meat, highlighting strengths and weaknesses, and factors driving their current purchase behavior. Finally, we will attempt to outline possible strategies to ensure a sustainable future for the production of rabbits for commercial meat purposes.

Beef meat preferences of consumers from Northwest Italy: Analysis of choice attributes.

In this research the importance of several choice attributes of beef for Piedmontese consumers was examined. The survey was conducted on a sample of consumers in sixteen meat stores in Piedmont, Northwest Italy. A choice experiment (Best-Worst scaling methodology) was used to identify consumer preferences and five clusters of purchaser. The responses were also analyzed on the basis of two variables, the frequency of meat consumption and the place of purchase. Piedmontese consumers considered "price" as the most important factor in meat purchasing, but "animal welfare" considerations played some part too.

Lost in processing? Perceived healthfulness, taste and caloric content of whole and processed organic food.

The "organic" claim explicitly informs consumers about the food production method. Yet, based on this claim, people often infer unrelated food attributes. The current research examined whether the perceived advantage of organic over conventional food generalizes across different organic food types. Compared to whole organic foods, processed organic foods are less available, familiar and prototypical of the organic food category. In two studies (combined N = 258) we investigated how both organic foods types were perceived in healthfulness, taste and caloric content when compared to their conventional alternatives. Participants evaluated images of both whole (e.g., lettuce) and processed organic food exemplars (e.g., pizza), and reported general evaluations of these food types. The association of these evaluations with individual difference variables - self-reported knowledge and consumption of organic food, and environmental concerns - was also examined. Results showed that organically produced whole foods were perceived as more healthful, tastier and less caloric than those produced conventionally, thus replicating the well-established halo effect of the organic claim in food evaluation. The organic advantage was more pronounced among individuals who reported being more knowledgeable about organic food, consumed it more frequently, and were more environmentally concerned. The advantage of the organic claim for processed foods was less clear. Overall, processed organic (vs. conventional) foods were perceived as tastier, more healthful (Study 1) or equally healthful (Study 2), but also as more caloric. We argue that the features of processed food may modulate the impact of the organic claim, and outline possible research directions to test this assumption. Uncovering the specific conditions in which food claims bias consumer's perceptions and behavior may have important implications for marketing, health and public-policy related fields.

Assessment of the Sustainability of the Mediterranean Diet Combined with Organic Food Consumption: An Individual Behaviour Approach.

Mediterranean diets are promising sustainable food models and the organic food system may provide health and environmental benefits. Combining the two models could therefore be a favourable approach for food sustainability. The aim of this study was to draw up a comparative description of four diets differing in the level of organic foods consumption and the adherence to the Mediterranean diet, using multidisciplinary indicators to assess the sustainability of these diets. Four groups of participants were defined and compared, combining the proportion of organic food in their diet (Org versus Conv) and the adherence to the Mediterranean diet (Med versus NoMed). Conv-NoMed: Conventional consumers and non-Mediterranean diet followers; Conv-Med: Conventional consumers and Mediterranean diet followers; Org-NoMed: Organic consumers and non-Mediterranean diet followers; Org-Med: Organic consumers and Mediterranean diet followers. The adherence to nutritional recommendations was higher among the Org-Med and Conv-Med groups compared to the Conv-NoMed group (using the mPNNS-GS (modified-Programme National nutrition santé guidelines score/13.5 points): 9.29 (95% confidence intervals (CI) = 9.23-9.36) and 9.30 (95% CI = 9.24-9.35) versus 8.19 (95% CI = 8.17-8.22)) respectively. The mean plant/animal protein intake ratio was 1.38 (95% CI = 1.01-1.74) for the Org-Med group versus 0.44 (95% CI = 0.28-0.60) for the Conv-NoMed group. The average cost of the diet of Org-Med participants was the highest: 11.43 €/day (95% CI = 11.34-11.52). This study highlighted the importance of promoting the Mediterranean diet combined with organic food consumption for individual health and environmental aspects but challenges with regard to the cost remain.

Identifying effective factors on consumers' choice behavior toward green products: the case of Tehran, the capital of Iran.

The environment is increasingly turning to a vital and very important issue for all people. By increasing environmental concerns as well as legislating and regulating rules on the protection of the environment and the emergence of green consumers, implementing green marketing approach for organizations seems to be more crucial and essential. As a result, the need for ecological products and green business activities compels companies to combine environmental issues with marketing strategies. The first step in the success of companies and organizations is to identify consumers and their consumption behaviors correctly and accurately. So, the purpose of this study is to identify effective factors for the choice of consumers of green products. We used consumption values (functional value, social value, emotional value, conditional value, epistemic value, and environmental value) as the effective factor for choosing green products. The original place of this research was in Tehran, capital city of Iran, which is one of the most polluted cities in the world due to environmental issues. The results from the survey questionnaires are analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. The results indicated that functional value-price, functional value-quality, social value, epistemic value, and environmental value had significantly positive effects on the choice of green products; also, conditional value and emotional value had no influence on it. It was concluded that the main influential factors for consumers' choice behavior regarding green products included environmental value and epistemic value. This study emphasized the proper pricing of green products by producers and sellers.

A concept mapping study on organic food consumers in Shanghai, China.

Despite some similarities with developed countries, the growth of organic market in China seems to follow a different path. Thus, important questions are how Chinese urban consumers perceive organic food, and what are the main concepts associated to the organic attribute. We aimed at representing in graphic form the network of mental associations with the organic concept. We used an adapted version of the "Brand concept mapping" method to acquire, process, and draw individual concept networks perceived by 50 organic food consumers in Shanghai. We then analyzed the data using network and cluster analysis to create aggregated maps for two distinct groups of consumers. Similarly to their peers in developed countries, Chinese consumers perceive organic food as healthy, safe and expensive. However, organic is not necessarily synonymous with natural produce in China, also due to a translation of the term that conveys the idea of a "technology advanced" product. Organic overlaps with the green food label in terms of image and positioning in the market, since they are easily associated and often confused. The two groups we identified show clear differences in the way the organic concept is associated to other concepts and features. The study provides useful information for practitioners: marketers of organic products in China should invest in communication to emphasize the differences with Green Food products and they should consider the possibility of segmenting organic consumers; Chinese policy makers should consider implementing information campaigns aimed at achieving a better understanding of the features of these quality labels among consumers. For researchers, the study confirms that the BCM method is effective and its integration with network and cluster analysis improves the interpretation of individual and aggregated maps.

High Occurrence Rate and Contamination Level of Bacillus cereus in Organic Vegetables on Sale in Retail Markets.

Organic foods have risen in popularity recently. However, the increased risk of bacterial contamination of organic foods has not been fully evaluated. In this study, 100 samples each of organic and conventional fresh vegetables (55 lettuce samples and 45 sprout samples) sold in South Korea were analyzed for aerobic bacteria, coliforms, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus cereus. Although the aerobic bacteria and coliform counts were not significantly different between the two farming types (p > 0.05), the occurrence rate of B. cereus was higher in organically cultivated vegetables compared with those grown conventionally (70% vs. 30%, respectively). The mean contamination level of B. cereus-positive organic samples was also significantly higher (1.86 log colony-forming unit [CFU]/g vs. 0.69 log CFU/g, respectively) (p < 0.05). In addition, six samples of organic vegetables were found to be contaminated with B. cereus at over 4 log CFU/g categorized as unsatisfactory according to Health Protection Agency guideline. The relatively higher occurrence rate of B. cereus in organic vegetables emphasizes the importance of implementing control measures in organic vegetable production and postharvest processing to reduce the risk of food poisoning.