Performing Department
Human Ecology
Non Technical Summary
Most Americans do not eat the recommended amount of seafood each week necessary to improve their diets and their overall health. Domestic aquaculture products represent healthy, sustainable seafood choices capable of filling this dietary gap. However, consumer preference for wild over farmed fish limits the production and profitability of the aquaculture industry.This project will identify consumer misconceptions that limit purchases of three aquaculture products (shrimp, salmon, and oysters); determine nutrition, health, and sustainability attributes of farmed fish likely to increase consumers' in-store purchases; and, determine effective labeling practices to guide industry professionals in marketing farmed fish to consumers.Product attributes to test will be identified through a literature review, key-informant interviews with industry stakeholders, an examination of labeling claims on existing products, and a pilot survey. Two nationally-representative surveys will assess consumer's seafood consumption patterns at two points in the COVID-19 pandemic. The surveys will also assess consumers' knowledge of the Dietary Guidelines and FDA/EPA recommendations regarding seafood intake, charactarize their misconceptions about aquaculture, and measure their awareness of the health and nutritional benefits of fish consumption, potential health risks, and knowledge of fish farming practices. As part of these surveys, we will use discrete choice experiments to determine who is willing to pay more for the seafood attributes they say they value, and how much they would be willing to pay. We will also examine what combinations of seafood attributes consumers prefer and are willing to pay for. Product labels generated from these results will then be tested in a final online survey.The U.S. aquaculture industry can capitalize on this information both by creating or adapting production techniques to yield products that meet the evolving demands of consumers and by new labeling practices and other efforts to promote the ways in which their products may already meet those demands.
Animal Health Component
60%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
60%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
This project addresses the need for economic research to increase commercial aquaculture profitability in the U.S. while facilitating the expansion of an industry that is environmentally and economically sustainable and increasingly capable of contributing to food security, by producing healthy products that meet changing consumer demands.The goals of this project include:Identifying consumer perceptions and misconceptions about health, nutrition, and environmental attributes of farmed seafood.Characterizing the attributes of farmed salmon, farmed shrimp, and farmed oysters that will increase likelihood of consumer purchase of each.Determining consumer demand, willingness to pay (WTP), and price premiums for specific farmed seafood attributes relative to health, nutrient content, production, and environmental sustainability across sociodemographic and latent consumer segments.Evaluating changes over time in consumer attribute valuation and WTP in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.Determining effective product labeling strategies based on consumer preferences and WTP for farmed seafood attributes.Sharing actionable results with key stakeholders based on the rigorous econometric findings
Project Methods
Literature Review We will conduct a thorough review of the aquaculture labeling literature, including relevant studies conducted by market forecasters, governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, and particular seafood commodity organizations. The resulting analysis of this "non-academic" literature will guide the quantitative survey and discrete choice experiments proposed in this project, helping to focus the research on key issues, filling gaps in what is known, and providing an opportunity to systematically investigate hypotheses proposed by those within the industry.Analysis of Existing Attribute LabelsWe will use searches of the Label Insight online product database to characterize the marketing, nutritional, environmental, and sustainability claims and certifications on packages of salmon, shrimp, and oysters currently sold in the U.S.Key Informant InterviewsWe will engage the aquaculture industry early in the project by conducting 12 key informant interviews with leading industry representatives. Questions asked during the semi-structured interviews will reflect the unique challenges and opportunities for producers in various sectors, and will be based on outcomes of the literature search and analysis of existing labels. We will use the data collected to modify our list of attributes for analysis in the consumer survey and Discrete Choice Experiments (DCE). To maintain continued engagement with the aquaculture industry, we will invite our 12 key informants to serve on an advisory committee created to guide and evaluate the remaining phases of the project.Combined Consumer Survey and Discrete Choice ExperimentsWe will combine consumer survey data collection with DCEs to examine the perceptions, current consumption behaviors, valued attributes, purchase intentions and WTP among consumers at three points during the next two years, with the flexibility to adapt to unpredictable phases of the COVID-19 crisis. We will conduct an initial study consisting of an online survey and DCEs using a quota sample of 1,200 consumers.Nationally Representative Online SurveysWe will conduct an online survey of a representative sample of 1,200 adult American consumers and an oversample of 400 women of childbearing age (18-49) at the beginning of the award period, and 12- 18 months later. These surveys will record self-reported seafood purchase and intake over the previous month. It will also assess consumer perceptions of farmed fish, knowledge of the health and nutritional benefits of fish consumption, potential health risks, and fish farming practices. The survey will identify familiarity with misconceptions regarding the nutrition, health, and environmental implications of farmed fish, and knowledge of the Dietary Guidelines and FDA/EPA recommendations regarding seafood intake.Discrete Choice ExperimentsAs part of the surveys described above, we will use three counterbalanced DCEs to identify the attributes of farmed salmon, farmed shrimp, and farmed oysters most likely to increase consumer purchase of each. To experimentally model consumer choices of each seafood type, consumers will view packages designed to elicit purchase preferences among each type of farmed fish with various attributes. In each choice task, participants will examine the differing attribute labels on each package and to choose which of two packages of fish they would purchase. Labels, including price, will appear as they likely would in a retail setting. Participants will also have the option to select "no choice".For each choice scenario, the value of each product attribute is randomly assigned from its domain based on a uniform distribution. Similarly, product price will be randomly generated based on a uniform distribution of the selected range (e.g., an established range that extends 15% below and 15% above average market value of each product). With this information, we will be able to estimate the market share and the distribution of consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for each product attribute using mixed logit model estimations based on the choice experiment data, with the randomization of attribute values and price allowing for generalization of our results to a broader population of consumers. To maximize the accuracy of consumer responses while minimizing participant burden and fatigue during each DCE, each participant will be presented with only six total choice sets (two for each type of fish) to which they will respond.To project the survey results to the U.S. Population, 1,200 nationally representative adults will be recruited for the repeated cross-sectional survey. Pre-screening questions will be used to determine participant eligibility. Additionally, we will recruit an oversample of 400 women of childbearing age (18-49) for participation for a total enrollment of 1,600 participants.Between-Subjects Experiment We will also test our predictions from the DCEs by conducting a between-subjects experimental test of hypothetical product labels. We expect that while consumers will value and be willing to pay for additional attributes they particularly value, there is a maximum price that consumers will be willing to pay for each product, regardless of the number of added attributes. Within that maximum price, different groups of consumers are likely to prefer particular combinations of attributes. Moreover, we expect that, on average, consumers will exhibit negative reactance toward (i.e. show a decreased tendency to purchase) products with an overabundance of attribute labels (assuming that these are a marketing ploy). Determining the maximum price consumers are willing to pay for particular combinations of attributes and at what level reactance occurs will provide essential information toward future labeling, pricing, and marketing of farmed fish by the industry. To answer these questions, we will conduct an online between-subjects experiment in which participants review and respond to images of farmed seafood packages bearing different combinations and number of attribute labels (including a control condition with no claims). A quota sample of up to 3,000 participants will be recruited, matched to be representative of the U.S. population by age, race/ethnicity, sex, and region of the country. Combinations of attribute claims will be vetted by the project's industry advisory committee as to their plausibility and practicality prior to the experiment. Using a counterbalanced design, each participant will view and evaluate one package of shrimp, one package of salmon, and one package of oysters with different labeling claims. They will provide overall evaluations of each product and indicate how good they imagine the product will taste when consumed, the likelihood that they would purchase it in the next six months if it were sold in their grocery store, and the price premium they would be willing to pay. We anticipate testing consumer reactions to a total of up to 15 combinations of attributes, with each participant responding to 12 labels (four each for three species). Additionally, each participant will be asked to construct their own idealized group of attributes. . Participants will be asked to add or subtract desired attributes to their fish product while a resulting price tag is displayed on the screen. Data collected will include attributes added/deleted, order of their addition/deletion, combined added cost of attributes, and the final price. Importantly, this step will yield the total price participants were willing to pay for their fish purchase reflective of the actual cost to industry, which will be useful in determining which attribute additions by industry are reasonable and cost-effective for each product.