Could animal welfare claims and nutritional information boost the demand for organic meat? Evidence from non-hypothetical experimental auctions

The future of organic agriculture will, to a large extent, depend on consumer demand. As a result, the last three decades have witnessed a considerable increase in the number of papers that have attempted to identify the determinants of organic food consumption and whether organic foods are competing with other ethical food products such as local foods, animal-friendly foods, healthier foods and free-from foods (e.g., dairy free, gluten free, nut free). This study went a step further and assessed the use of animal welfare and nutritional information to increase the demand for and the competitive power of organic foods using a non-hypothetical experimental auction. Overall, the results showed that the demand for organic animal products could be improved not only by selling better its superiority in terms of sustainability but also by promoting its advantages in terms of other attributes that are known to be highly valued by consumers such as animal welfare and nutritional content. Therefore, producers and marketers of organic animal products should be fully aware of the potential of their products and ready to exploit all their advantages if they want to improve their competitive power as well as their demand.