CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR MEAT QUALITY ATTRIBUTES AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION PRACTICES

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1006476
• Project Start Date: Oct 1, 2015
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2017
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
STILLWATER,OK 74078

Performing Department
Ag Economics

Non Technical Summary
Criticism of animal agriculture is growing. The negative publicity is multifaceted and ranges from concerns about animal welfare, health impacts, food safety, climate change, environmental impacts, water usage, and food security. The concerns are expressed in high profile books and editorials, but are also beginning to be reflected in public policy. This research will focus on several questions. How much impact, if any, has this sort of publicity and had on consumers' demand for meat, dairy, and eggs? Which aspects of meat consumption are most troubling to consumers? How will industry responses - political, promotional, and scientific - affect consumer demand for meat, dairy, and eggs in the future?These questions are important given the economic size of the poultry and livestock sector, and the impact of meat, dairy, and eggs in the American diet. Given the size and economic importance of these industries, it is vital to understand the factors affecting the sector.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

50%

Applied

50%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
607	3320	3010	25%
603	3220	3010	25%
607	3520	3010	25%
603	5010	3010	10%
607	7310	3010	15%

Knowledge Area
603 - Market Economics; 607 - Consumer Economics;

Subject Of Investigation
3220 - Meat-type chicken, live animal; 3320 - Meat, beef cattle; 7310 - Experimental design and statistical methods; 3520 - Meat, swine; 5010 - Food;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;

Keywords

meat quality attributes

livestock production practices

Goals / Objectives
The overall purpose of this research project is to determine changes in consumer demand for meat, dairy, and eggs. Specific research include:Determine consumer preferences for meat quality attributes and livestock production practices, such as animal welfare, environmental impacts, grass-fed, organic, hormone use, and lean finely textured beef.Determine impact of information from media, academics, and government on consumer demand for meat, dairy, and eggs.Determine effects of traditional economic factors - like price and income - on meat, dairy, and egg demand.Determine trends and determinants of vegetarianism.

Project Methods
To accomplish the objectives, a number of activities will be undertaken. Consumer preferences and beliefs will be determined using a variety of survey and experimental methods including contingent valuation, conjoint analysis, and experimental auction. Consumer surveys will be administered at regular intervals to track changes over time, and these data will be coupled with scanner data to link perceptions and knowledge with actual economic conditions. Latent class and clustering methods will be used to identify groups of people with similar preferences/beliefs and responsiveness to information. In addition to using existing methodologies for estimating food preferences, extensions of previous methods and entirely new approaches will be explored to help people formulate and articulate their preferences in a way that enhances external validity. The effects of demand changes and new public policies will also be analyzed by market-models that link changes in prices and quantities to changes in producer and consumer welfare.

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Agricultural economists Agricultural producers Agribusinesses Policy makers Food consumers Media Changes/Problems:There is significant evidence of the research producing a change in knowledge. Lusk's work is frequently used and cited by other academics, agricultural organizations, and by consumer and food advocacy groups. His research and writings has appeared in numerous popular online blogs, press releases, newspapers, and magazines including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. His academic works has been cited over 8,700 times according to googlescholar. There are no problems to report. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Many services have been offered from the project. Lusk teaches a graduate level course, where he trains students on the methods used to study consumer decision making and provides applications to livestock agriculture. Lusk has served as an official and unofficial consultant on many projects for agribusinesses and government agencies on topics related to the project. Lusk has given numerous invited talks on the research at Universities, professional academic conferences, agricultural industry meetings, and to those working in government positions. Products from the project include numerous journal articles, books, and the creation of decision aids. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?There is a constant barrage of studies, books, and media critical of animal agriculture. The negative publicity is multifaceted and ranges from concerns about animal welfare, health impacts, food safety, climate change, environmental impacts, water usage, and food security. These ideas have moved beyond popular discourse to affect public policy. For example, the 2015 federal Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee recently released preliminary recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Agriculture. The future of animal agriculture is important given the economic size of the poultry and livestock sector, and the impact of meat, dairy, and eggs in the American diet. For example, data from the USDA-NASS suggests that that annual farm-gate value of production for cattle, poultry, hogs, and eggs averaged $39.79 billion, $29.16 billion, $16.74 billion, and $7.57 billion, respectively from 2008 to 2012. At the consumer level, data from the Bureau of Economic analysis indicates that the largest share of at-home food expenditures for consumers is in the category of "meat", at $149.88 billion annually from 2008-2012; dairy makes up another $61.51 billion and eggs another $10.27 billion. Given the size and economic importance of these industries, it is vital to understand the factors affecting the sector. To address stay abreast of factors affecting the livestock sector, a variety of studies have been undertaken to inform industry, consumer, and policy making stakeholder groups. The work has helped food companies anticipate and plan for changes in food demand, and has depended understanding of the ongoing food demand challenges. Research results from this project, and others, has been prominently featured in the media such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This research has helped understand the causal impact of California's new animal housing laws on the prices of eggs. The results of these studies have been used to inform many policy debates on the topic as other states.Massachusetts has a ballot measurethat would enact similar laws; the results have also informed retailers who have made pledges to switch to alternative hen housing practices. A variety of surveys and experiments have been undertaken to address the projects objectives. For example, one survey is studying the effect of perceptions about hormone use and the effect on demand for beef, pork, and chicken. One experiment studied how people vote on animal welfare initiatives in relation to how they shop for products advertising higher animal welfare standards. Another study is investigating how news stories translate to consumers' perceptions about the safety of meat and how that affects demand.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Lusk, J.L. Consumer Research with Big Data: Applications from the Food Demand Survey (FooDS). American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 99(2017):303-320.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Lusk, J.L. Distributional Effects of Crop Insurance Subsidies. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. 39(2017):1-15.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Drichoutis, A. and J.L. Lusk. What Can Multiple Price Lists Really Tell Us about Risk Preferences? Journal of Risk and Uncertainty. 53(2016):89-106.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Malone, T. and J.L. Lusk. Brewing Up Development: Government Intervention in Beer. Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy. 5(2016):325-342.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Lusk, J.L. and G.T. Tonsor. How Meat Demand Elasticities Vary with Price, Income, and Product Category. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. 38(2016):673-711.

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Agricultural economists Agricultural producers Agribusinesses Policy makers Food consumers Media Changes/Problems:There is significant evidence of the research producing a change in knowledge. Lusk's work is frequently used and cited by other academics, agricultural organizations, and by consumer and food advocacy groups. His research and writings has appeared in numerous popular online blogs, press releases, newspapers, and magazines including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. His academic works has been cited over 8,700 times according to googlescholar. There are no problems to report. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? A number of projects are underway to improve understanding of changes in consumer demand for meat, dairy, and eggs. A couple of studies, for example, have investigated the causal impact of California's new animal housing laws on the prices of eggs. The results of these studies have been used to inform many policy debates on the topic as other states, such as Massachusetts has a ballot measure that would similar laws; the results have also informed retailers who have made pledges to switch to alternative hen housing practices. A variety of surveys and experiments have been undertaken to address the projects objectives. For example, one survey is studying the effect of perceptions about hormone use and the effect on demand for beef, pork, and chicken. One experiment is studying how people vote on animal welfare initiatives in relation to how they shop for products advertising higher animal welfare standards. Another study is investigating how news stories translate to consumers' perceptions about the safety of meat and how that affects demand. Lusk has given numerous invited talks on the research at Universities, professional academic conferences, agricultural industry meetings, and to those working in government positions. Many services have been offered from the project. Lusk teaches a graduate level course, where he trains students on them the methods used to study consumer decision making and provides applications to livestock agriculture. Lusk has served as an official and unofficial consultant on many projects for agribusinesses and government agencies on topics related to the project. Products from the project include numerous journal articles, books, and the creation of decision aids. There is a constant barrage of studies, books, and media critical of animal agriculture. The negative publicity is multifaceted and ranges from concerns about animal welfare, health impacts, food safety, climate change, environmental impacts, water usage, and food security. These ideas have moved beyond popular discourse to affect public policy. For example, the 2015 federal Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee recently released preliminary recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Agriculture. The future of animal agriculture is important given the economic size of the poultry and livestock sector, and the impact of meat, dairy, and eggs in the American diet. For example, data from the USDA-NASS suggests that that annual farm-gate value of production for cattle, poultry, hogs, and eggs averaged $39.79 billion, $29.16 billion, $16.74 billion, and $7.57 billion, respectively from 2008 to 2012. At the consumer level, data from the Bureau of Economic analysis indicates that the largest share of at-home food expenditures for consumers is in the category of "meat", at $149.88 billion annually from 2008-2012; dairy makes up another $61.51 billion and eggs another $10.27 billion. Given the size and economic importance of these industries, it is vital to understand the factors affecting the sector. To address stay abreast of factors affecting the livestock sector, a variety of studies have been undertaken to inform industry, consumer, and policy making stakeholder groups. The work has helped food companies anticipate and plan for changes in food demand, and has depended understanding of the ongoing food demand challenges. Research results from this project, and others, has been prominently featured in the media such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Jo, J., J.L. Lusk, L. Muller, and B. Ruffieux. Value of Parsimonious Nutritional Information in a Framed Field Experiment. Food Policy. 63(2016):124-133.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Malone, T. and J.L. Lusk. Putting the Chicken before the Egg Price: An Ex Post Analysis of Californias Battery Cage Ban. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. 41(2016):518-532.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Norwood, F.B. and J.L. Lusk. Some Vegetarians Spend Less Money on Food, Others Dont. Ecological Economics. 130(2016):232-242.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Drichoutis, A.C., J.L. Lusk, and V. Pappaz. Elicitation Format and the WTA/WTP Gap: A Study of Climate Neutral Foods. Food Policy. 61(2016):141-155.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Pappalardo, G. and J.L. Lusk. The Role of Beliefs in Purchasing Process of Functional Foods. Food Quality and Preference. 53(2016):151-158.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: McFadden, B.R. and J.L. Lusk. What Consumers Dont Know about GM Food and How that Affects Beliefs. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Journal. 30(2016):3091-3095.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Marette, S., J.L. Lusk, and F.B. Norwood. Choosing for Others. Applied Economics. 48(2016):2039-2111.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Thompson, N. M., E.A Devuyst, B.W. Brorsen, and J.L. Lusk. Using Genetic Testing to Improve Fed Cattle Marketing Decisions. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. 41(2016):286-306.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Pendell, D.L., J.L. Lusk, T.L. Marsh, K.H. Coble, and S.C. Szmania. Economic Assessment of Zoonotic Diseases: An Illustrative Study of Rift Valley Fever in the United States. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases. 63(2016):203-214.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Crespi, J., J.L. Lusk, B.J. Cherry, L. Martin, B. McFadden, and A. Bruce. Neural Activations Correlate with Food-Product Valuations Derived from an Economic Model of Decision Time. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 98(2016):74-91.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Drichoutis, A.C., J.L. Lusk, and R.M. Nayga, Jr. The Veil of Experimental Currency Units. Journal of the Economic Science Association. 1(2015):182-196.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Gb�gb�l�gb� D.S., J. Lowenberg-DeBoer, R. Adeoti, J.L. Lusk, O. Coulibaly. The Estimated Ex Ante Economic Impact of Bt Cowpea in Niger, Benin and Northern Nigeria. Agricultural Economics. 46(2015):563-577.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: McFadden, B.R. and J.L. Lusk. Cognitive Biases in the Assimilation of Scientific Information on Global Warming and Genetically Modified Food. Food Policy. 54(2015):35-43.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Thompson, N.M., E.A Devuyst, B.W. Brorsen, and J.L. Lusk. Yield Grade and Quality Grade Outcome Distributions Conditioned on Molecular Breeding Values for Commercial Beef Cattle. Journal of Animal Science. 93(2015):2045-2055.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Pendell, D., T.L. Marsh, K.H. Coble, J.L Lusk, and S. Szmania. Economic Assessment of FMDv Releases from the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility. PLoS ONE. 10(2015):e0129124.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Francisco, A.J., A.S. Bruce, J.M. Crespi, J.L. Lusk, B. McFadden, J.M. Bruce, R.L. Aupperle, and S.L. Lim Are Consumers as Constrained as Hens are Confined? Brain Activations and Behavioral Choices after Informational Influence. Journal of Agricultural and Food Industrial Organization. 13(2015):113-119.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: McFadden, B., J.L. Lusk, J. Crespi, B.J. Cherry, L. Martin, R. Aupperle, and A. Bruce. Can Neural Activation in Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Predict Responsiveness to Information? An Application to Egg Production Systems and Proposition 2 Advertising. PLoS ONE. 10(2015), e0125243.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Cherry, J.B., J.M. Bruce, J.L. Lusk, J.M. Crespi, S.L. Lim, and A.S. Bruce. Neurofunctional Correlates of Ethical, Food-Related Decision-Making. PLoS ONE. 10(2015), e0120541.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Vestal, M., J.L. Lusk, S. Cooper, and C. Ward. What Are the Consequences of the Equine Slaughter Ban on Horse Prices? Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics. 47(2015):27-46.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Lusk, J.L., B. McFadden, B.J. Rickard. Which Biotech Foods Are Most Acceptable to the Public? Biotechnology Journal. 10(2015):13-16.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Avitia, J., M. Costa-Font, J.M. Gil, and J.L. Lusk. A Calibrated Auction-Conjoint Experiment to Elicit Consumer Preferences for Sustainable Farming. Food Quality and Preference. 41(2015):1-11.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Lusk, J.L., J.M. Crespi, J.B.C. Cherry, B.R. McFadden, L.E. Martin, and A.S. Bruce. An fMRI Investigation of Consumer Choice Regarding Controversial Food Technologies. Food Quality and Preference. 40A(2015):209-220.