7 pages., Via online journal, The emergence of Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) has drawn the attention of researchers from various fields, who try to understand and explain these new phenomena. The purpose of this paper is to explore how personal attitude and product quality perception influence relative satisfaction over participation in AFNs, therefore contributing to the literature on socially conscious consumerism. Structural Equation Modeling is used to investigate the determinants of consumers' attitudes towards AFNs, its influence on perceived quality of food products, and their relative influence over satisfaction with participation in AFNs. A survey was conducted among 210 AFN participants. The results from this study suggest that consumers' attitude towards AFNs directly influences the perceived quality of food products; moreover, the analysis confirms the relationship between these two elements and overall satisfaction with participation in AFNs. Finally, the research provides suggestions on how to improve consumers’ involvement and mainstream AFNs.
17 pages, Modern agriculture is facing unique challenges in building a sustainable future for food production, in which the reliable detection of plantation threats is of critical importance. The breadth of existing information sources, and their equivalent sensors, can provide a wealth of data which, to be useful, must be transformed into actionable knowledge. Approaches based on Information Communication Technologies (ICT) have been shown to be able to help farmers and related stakeholders make decisions on problems by examining large volumes of data while assessing multiple criteria. In this paper, we address the automated identification (and count the instances) of the major threat of olive trees and their fruit, the Bactrocera Oleae (a.k.a. Dacus) based on images of the commonly used McPhail trap’s contents. Accordingly, we introduce the “Dacus Image Recognition Toolkit” (DIRT), a collection of publicly available data, programming code samples and web-services focused at supporting research aiming at the management the Dacus as well as extensive experimentation on the capability of the proposed dataset in identifying Dacuses using Deep Learning methods. Experimental results indicated performance accuracy (mAP) of 91.52% in identifying Dacuses in trap images featuring various pests. Moreover, the results also indicated a trade-off between image attributes affecting detail, file size and complexity of approaches and mAP performance that can be selectively used to better tackle the needs of each usage scenario.
12 pages., via online journal, Animal welfare and environmental impacts have been emphasized in the sustainable production of livestock. Labels are useful tools for clearly providing such attribute information to consumers. The aim of this study was to evaluate how human values influence consumer segments for beef with information on animal welfare and environmentally friendly production. Using a choice experiment, we examined whether animal welfare and environmentally friendly labels, country of origin and price impact consumer choice. As results, five heterogeneous consumer classes were identified using a latent class model: label conscious, domestic beef preferring, price conscious, animal welfare preferring and not interested in production method. Almost 90% of consumers were interested in and willing to pay for beef with animal welfare or environmentally friendly label. The classes with significant preferences for such labeled beef were affected by “openness to change”, “self-enhancement” and “security”. Improving consumer attitudes and strengthening consumer perception towards labeled beef by marketers and policy makers will be required.
Via Online Journal, Extension is challenged with meeting the needs of a variety of stakeholders. As the country becomes
more urban, Extension may need to adapt programming to reach new clients. Having an
understanding about what, when, and how urban food producers gather information is important
to address their needs. Information that is relevant, up-to-date, and meets clients’ needs, enables
their ability to adopt new ideas and innovative technologies, providing more opportunities for
success. A mixed-method research design explored the information needs and information-seeking
behavior of urban food producers in Columbus, Ohio. Urban food producers in this study most
needed information to increase food production. Respondents preferred to receive information
from the Internet and other electronic media over conventional information sources. This group of
urban producers trusted information from university and Extension sources, but expressed mixed
opinions about their personal experiences with OSU Extension.
15 pages., Article #: 4690, via online journal., As with environment and sustainable development, there has been a rapid rise in the
worldwide consumption of organic foods over the last years, as well as the quickly growing potential
of organic markets in China, and their direct influence on consumer health awareness and social
opinion. This study provides insights into Chinese consumers’ attitudes toward organic foods and
evaluates purchase intention’s impact as a mediator in the relationship between external and internal
factors on purchase intention. This empirical study is based on an online questionnaire using a sample
of 1421 Chinese consumers. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used as the main practical
approach for data analysis, and six hypotheses were examined. The results show that a more positive
attitude on the part of consumers toward organic foods will further reinforce their purchasing
intentions, whereas, there was no significant impact of marketing price and communication on
consumers’ attitudes toward organic foods. Furthermore, the results show that intention was a
full or a whole mediator among the three exogenous constructs of environment awareness, health
consciousness, and subjective norms. Based on the findings, marketing communication strategies
should concentrate on offering more value to consumers regarding the features of nutritional value.
Long-term environment friendliness, health benefits, and social status symbols should be assumed to
enhance consumers’ purchase intention in the organic foods industry.
