12 pages, This paper addresses consumer trust in organic food in order to find out which aspects increase and decrease trust and which trust expectations consumers have. The aim is to strengthen consumer trust on the basis of the findings and to develop trust-building measures. To this end, ten focus groups with German consumers were conducted online in February 2021 and evaluated using content analysis. The results show that there is a predominant lack of trust in organic food. This is based in particular on the fact that organic production is often doubted and there are from the consumer’s point of view too many organic labels. This can be attributed not only to a lack of knowledge on the part of consumers, but also to a lack of transparency within the organic sector and in relation to organic food. Results from the consumer's point of view show that the possibility of control, information and transparency are relevant for trust in organic food and the development of knowledge about organic food can positively influence this trust.
10 pages, Global population growth necessitates increasing food production while reducing the environmental impact of intensive agriculture. Organic production can address this need; however, organic producers lack the Extension support needed to advance their practice. Using phenomenological design, we explored how organic producers experience growing organically. We report factors relevant to producers' decision to grow organically, their experiences with adopting organic practices, and the alignment of their philosophical stances with the concept of growing organically. Participants would benefit from Extension programs targeted toward organic agriculture. We propose an Extension model to support producers in becoming more effective and efficient at growing organically.
21 pages., Credibility is particularly important in organic food systems because there are only marginal visual and sensorial differences between organic and conventionally produced products, requiring consumers to trust in producers’ quality claims. In this article I explore what challenges the credibility of organic food systems and I explore how credibility of organic food systems can be maintained, using the Danish organic food system as a case study. The question is increasingly relevant as the sale of organic food is growing in Denmark as well as globally, and consumers’ expectations of organics continuously evolve. The inquiry is threefold, first I outline a conceptual framework for understanding trust and credibility in the food system, secondly I explore the developments in Danish organic food systems and thirdly discuss the challenges and opportunities for maintaining trust in the Danish organic food system. In the analysis I indicate eight key challenges: (1) unrealistic expectations, (2) blind trust and little motivation for extending their knowledge, (3) consumers assess the overall credibility of organic products, (4) ambitious ethical principles, (5) new consumer groups introduce new expectations, (6) frozen requirements in a changing world, (7) growing imports and labelling and (8) multiple versions of organics and the diversity is growing, as well as four aspects which may maintain the credibility of organics if implemented: (1) coordinate expectations, (2) communicate requested information, (3) institutional reform and (4) open communication of pros and cons of organic production.
14 pages., CONTEXT
The U.S. has the world's largest organic food market. However, low domestic production and a low adoption rate of organic grain farming limit the overall development of this sector. Multiple organic stakeholders have called for a better understanding of cognitive and motivational aspects of farmers' decision-making processes to help policymakers, agricultural scientists, and extension practitioners to work more effectively with farmers to explore and adopt organic grain production.
OBJECTIVE
This paper assesses farmers' adoption motivations, long-term goals, and perceived benefits to examine the congruence between initial motivations, long-term goals, and current perceived benefits.
METHODS
We employed a sequential mixed-method approach that first interviewed organic farmers in Iowa, U.S. Then developed and administered a statewide survey for the organic farmers. Survey data were analyzed with confirmatory factor analysis, paired-samples t-tests, and heteroskedasticity-robust regression models.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
We identified five highly-rated motivations for farmers to adopt organic grain: 1) profitability, 2) personal safety, 3) natural resources stewardship, 4) consumers and public health, and 5) honor and tradition. We found organic farmers' long-term goals are strongly orientated to both productivism and stewardship but less strongly oriented to civic-mindedness. This research assessed five areas of benefits associated with organic grain farming: 1) economic benefit, 2) addressed health concerns, 3) environmental natural resources, 4) values and beliefs validation, and 5) social benefit. This study found the benefits farmers experienced by adopting organic grain farming aligned with most of their original adoption motivations and long-term goals, except for serving the motivation of consumer and public health concerns.
