Consumer Willingness to Pay for Bird Management Practices in Fruit Crops

Abstract

Consumer interest in the practices embodied in food production is rising. However, little is known about consumer responses to agricultural management practices, particularly those for controlling bird pests. A national, online survey was used to assess consumers’ willingness to pay for selected bird management practices, as applied to grapes and apples (n = 1,000), via a choice modeling approach. Respondents indicated that they would pay an average of U.S. $0.41–0.76 more for fruit that embodied practices they considered more natural. Results indicate that disclosing production practices consumers consider more natural could elicit modest price premiums for fruit growers.

KEYWORDS:

• willingness to pay
• bird management
• fruit
• natural
• local
• choice modeling