For almost 15 years, the Institute for Feed Education and Research has engaged in education projects that help the U.S. animal food industry better communicate its story to corporate decision-makers and stakeholders looking for credible science and facts to make decisions on production practices. As retailers, restaurants and food companies seek to respond to consumers’ and activist organizations’ demands for alternative production practices, there is a need to better understand consumers’ knowledge and beliefs, and their willingness-to-pay for these attributes.
In 2017, IFEEDER supported a consumer survey that focused on understanding consumers’ behaviors and preferences toward two, poultry-related issues that entail tradeoffs between animal welfare and productivity: the transition to cage-free egg production and the potential for slow-growth broilers. The study determined consumers:
The results indicated that price is a significant driver for most consumers. There is room for the cage-free egg market to grow, but it may never reach majority market share. The willingness to pay for slow-growth chicken is highly dependent on the information provided to consumers, suggesting that consumers do not have much knowledge or strong opinions for slow growth. The study also shows that chicken with slow-growth labels could garner a large market share even at $0.50 to $1.00 per pound price premiums. Much of this is explained not by strong preferences for slow growth chicken, but rather by a large segment of consumers who are insensitive to prices.
The community can use the findings to better inform public discussions, engage public health and government officials and provide a proof point on the ability for retailers and producers to meet commitments related to emerging social concerns.
This research is important beyond the egg and broiler industries, as the pressure to commit to sourcing only cage-free eggs often extends to housing systems used in the pork and veal industries as well, and the slow-growing chicken topic could easily transcend to other livestock species. It’s important for retailers to have evidence that the pressure for these unsound policy demands is from activists, not real consumers, and the retail industry is seeking our help.
IFEEDER’s success is driven by diverse members of the animal food industry and broader agricultural community, working together to ask the right questions, conduct research, develop tools and communicate results cohesively. The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), the Food Marketing Institute Foundation and the Animal Agriculture Alliance partnered with IFEEDER on this study.