Local Food Consumers: How Motivations and Perceptions Translate to Buying Behavior

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Local and Organic: Substitutes or Complements? An In-Store Evaluation of Labels for Apples

Over the past two decades, consumer demand for niche products has grown substantially. The primary objective of this paper is to disentangle the value consumers place on two prominent food claims, organic and local (defined as Colorado Proud in this study) as they relate to fresh produce. Using primary data from a choice experiment conducted in a grocery store that has conducted co-promotional efforts with the Colorado Proud program, we found the value of the “local” claims trumps that of “organic” in apples. However, the difference in results between the experiments that offered participants either one- or two-pounds is far more pronounced, illustrating how scaling may influence estimates in such market-based research.choice experiment, local foods, organic, apple consumer demand, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Marketing, D12, Q11, Q18,

Understanding the Connections Between Consumer Motivations and Buying Behavior: The Case of the Local Food System Movement

Local and organic food systems represent some of the many food sector innovations of the past decade that signal that consumers are increasingly diverse and have heterogeneous preferences that reflect their unique values and preferences (Thilmany, Bond and Bond, 2008). Yet, regardless of the significant attention and growth surrounding sustainable foods, there is still a demand for research investigating the intersection of economic and psychological factors that can aid in predicting and explaining consumer behavior. This paper uses an attitude-behavior framework, the Theory of Planned Behavior, to explore the predictive ability of psychological concepts of willingness to pay for different attributes associated with sustainable foods. Consumer attitudes toward organic, fair trade and local labeled food as well as their level of "effectiveness" are measured in an effort to understand behavioral intentions. This study uses approximately 1000 responses from a 2008 nationwide survey of consumers to investigate the role of public benefits assigned to sustainable food products manifesting in a potential increase in willingness to pay.sustainable food, willingness to pay, theory of planned behavior, perceived consumer effectiveness, Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

Eat Your Fruits and Veggies: Who Informs Consumers about Produce Choices and Nutrition?

Food consumption trends in the U.S. may be affected by and/or contributing to the growth in food- and nutrition-related information channels. Information channels are increasing in number, as are the sources (McCluskey & Swinnnen 2004) that provide information. This paper examines consumer perceptions of the relative desirability of various food and nutrition information sources and education methods as well as the relative credibility of various food and nutrition sources. Using data from a 2006 nationwide consumer survey, comparative summary statistics show significant differences between information delivery methods and sources that consumers use and trust. By understanding how consumers receive and value information we can better target consumer groups.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Transverse nucleon structure and diagnostics of hard parton-parton processes at LHC

We propose a new method to determine at what transverse momenta particle production in high-energy pp collisions is governed by hard parton-parton processes. Using information on the transverse spatial distribution of partons obtained from hard exclusive processes in ep/gamma p scattering, we evaluate the impact parameter distribution of pp collisions with a hard parton-parton process as a function of p_T of the produced parton (jet). We find that the average pp impact parameters in such events depend very weakly on p_T in the range 2 < p_T < few 100 GeV, while they are much smaller than those in minimum-bias inelastic collisions. The impact parameters in turn govern the observable transverse multiplicity in such events (in the direction perpendicular to the trigger particle or jet). Measuring the transverse multiplicity as a function of p_T thus provides an effective tool for determining the minimum p_T for which a given trigger particle originates from a hard parton-parton process. Additional tests of the proposed geometric correlations are possible by measuring the dependence on the trigger rapidity. Various strategies for implementing this method are outlined.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Green criminology: shining a critical lens on environmental harm

Green criminology provides for inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary engagement with environmental crimes and wider environmental harms. Green criminology applies a broad ‘‘green’’ perspective to environmental harms, ecological justice, and the study of environmental laws and criminality, which includes crimes affecting the environment and non-human nature. Within the ecological justice and species justice perspectives of green criminology there is a contention that justice systems need to do more than just consider anthropocentric notions of criminal justice, they should also consider how justice systems can provide protection and redress for the environment and other species. Green criminological scholarship has, thus, paid direct attention to theoretical questions of whether and how justice systems deal with crimes against animals and the environment; it has begun to conceptualize policy perspectives that can provide contemporary ecological justice alongside mainstream criminal justice. Moving beyond mainstream criminology’s focus on individual offenders, green criminology also explores state failure in environmental protection and corporate offending and environmentally harmful business practices. A central discussion within green criminology is that of whether environmental harm rather than environmental crime should be its focus, and whether green ‘‘crimes’’ should be seen as the focus of mainstream criminal justice and dealt with by core criminal justice agencies such as the police, or whether they should be considered as being beyond the mainstream. This article provides an introductory overview that complements a multi- and inter-disciplinary article collection dedicated to green criminological thinking and research

Transnational social capital: the socio‐spatialities of civil society

Civil society remains a contested concept, but one that is widely embedded in global development processes. Transnationalism within civil society scholarship is often described dichotomously, either through hierarchical dependency relations or as a more amorphous networked global civil society. These two contrasting spatial imaginaries produce very particular ideas about how transnational relations contribute to civil society. Drawing on empirical material from research with civil society organizations in Barbados and Grenada, in this article I contend that civil society groups use forms of transnational social capital in their work. This does not, however, resonate with the horizontal relations associated with grassroots globalization or vertical chains of dependence. These social relations are imbued with power and agency and are entangled in situated historical, geographical and personal contexts. I conclude that the diverse transnational social relations that are part of civil society activity offer hope and possibilities for continued civil society action in these unexpected spatial arrangements

Cats and the law: evolving protection for cats and owners

This article examines the practical impact of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 on companion animal owners and their companions. It argues that the true significance of the Act is in creating a 21st Century conception of animal welfare based on the needs of animals. Arguably this amounts to a form of rights given that the Act requires owners to consider the needs of individual animals representing a departure from previous legislation which was largely negative in scope i.e. specifying prohibited actions towards animals. Instead, the Animal Welfare Act 2006 imposes a positive obligation to provide animal welfare, signalling an end to 'standard' approaches to animal welfare and instead requiring responsible, informed human-animal domestic relationships

Mainstreaming after Lisbon: advancing animal welfare in the EU internal market

This article traces the evolution of EU animal welfare law and policy. It considers the scope that Member States have to protect the welfare of animals and asks: In the absence of an EU animal welfare policy underpinned by a legal basis on which to adopt animal welfare laws, to what extent have the EU institutions legislated in order to protect the welfare of animals