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Consumer Attitudes toward Farm-Animal Welfare: The Case of Laying Hens

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  • Heng, Yan
  • Hanawa Peterson, Hikaru
  • Li, Xianghong

Abstract

Concerns over laying hens’ welfare have led to many different labels for eggs and changes to state regulations. Consumer attitudes toward farm-animal welfare were examined using a national survey in the context of preferences for eggs differentiated by layer management practices. Most respondents perceived caged housing and other conventional management practices as reducing hens’ welfare and were willing to pay a premium for eggs produced in cage-free and other nonconventional production systems. Although participants responded to information about environmental consequences of management practices, they placed more weight on animal welfare issues than environmental issues in their egg-purchase decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Heng, Yan & Hanawa Peterson, Hikaru & Li, Xianghong, 2013. "Consumer Attitudes toward Farm-Animal Welfare: The Case of Laying Hens," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 38(3), pages 1-17.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:jlaare:165936
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.165936
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    Cited by:

    1. Oh, Sohae & Vukina, Tomislav, 2020. "Quantifying the Welfare Effects of Laying-hen Cage Ban," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304408, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Lai, Yufeng & Yue, Chengyan, 2020. "Consumer Willingness to pay for Organic and Animal Welfare Product Attributes: Do Experimental Results Align with Market Data?," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304328, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Ochs, Dan & Wolf, Christopher A. & Widmar, Nicole Olynk & Bir, Courtney & Lai, John, 2019. "Hen housing system information effects on U.S. egg demand," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Kaminski, Danielle M. & Caputo, Vincenzina & McKendree, Melissa G.S., . "The US Public’s Attitudes on Animal and Worker Welfare in the Dairy and Poultry Industries," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 49(1).
    5. Brümmer, Nanke & Petersen, Wiebke & Christoph-Schulz, Inken, 2018. "Consumer Acceptance of Dual-Purpose Chickens A Mixed Methods Approach," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 67(4), December.
    6. Brenna Ellison & Kathleen Brooks & Taro Mieno, 2017. "Which livestock production claims matter most to consumers?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(4), pages 819-831, December.
    7. Brümmer, Nanke & Wolfram, Jenny & Mergenthaler, Marcus & Christoph-Schulz, Inken, 2018. "Das Bild Der Geflügelhaltung In Den Deutschen Printmedien," 58th Annual Conference, Kiel, Germany, September 12-14, 2018 275868, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    8. Heng, Yan & Peterson, Hikaru, 2014. "Estimating Demand for Differentiated Eggs Using Scanner Data," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170457, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Djamel Rahmani & Zein Kallas & Maria Pappa & José Maria Gil, 2019. "Are Consumers’ Egg Preferences Influenced by Animal-Welfare Conditions and Environmental Impacts?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-23, November.
    10. Luigi Bollani & Alessandro Bonadonna & Giovanni Peira, 2019. "The Millennials’ Concept of Sustainability in the Food Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-19, May.
    11. Xuqi Chen & Yan Heng & Zhifeng Gao & Yuan Jiang, 2022. "Impacts of duo‐regional generic advertising of social media on consumer preference," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(1), pages 21-44, January.
    12. Winnie Isabel Sonntag & Achim Spiller, 2018. "Measuring Public Concerns? Developing a Moral Concerns Scale Regarding Non-Product Related Process and Production Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-16, April.
    13. Spiller, Achim & von Meyer-Höfer, Marie & Sonntag, Winnie, 2016. "Gibt es eine Zukunft für die moderne konventionelle Tierhaltung in Nordwesteuropa?," DARE Discussion Papers 1608, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    14. Szilvia Molnár & László Szőllősi, 2020. "Sustainability and Quality Aspects of Different Table Egg Production Systems: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-22, September.
    15. Malone, Trey & Lusk, Jayson L., 2016. "Putting the Chicken Before the Egg Price: An Ex Post Analysis of California's Battery Cage Ban," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 41(3), pages 1-15, September.
    16. Chen, Xuqi & Gao, Zhifeng & Swisher, Marilyn & House, Lisa & Zhao, Xin, 2018. "Eco-labeling in the Fresh Produce Market: Not All Environmentally Friendly Labels Are Equally Valued," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 201-210.
    17. Wei, Xiaohan & Chen, Xuqi & Gao, Zhifeng & Jensen, Kimberly L. & Yu, Tun-Hsiang & DeLong, Karen L., 2020. "The Reference Price Effect on Willingness-to-Pay Estimates: Evidence from Eco-labeled Food Products," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304573, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. Bir, Courtney & Wolf, Christopher A. & Widmar, Nicole Olynk, 2020. "Dog and Cat Owner Demand for Veterinary Service Payment Plans," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 46(2), August.
    19. Francesca Gerini & Frode Alfnes & Alexander Schjøll, 2016. "Organic- and Animal Welfare-labelled Eggs: Competing for the Same Consumers?," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 471-490, June.
    20. Sonntag, Winnie Isabel & Spiller, Achim, 2017. "Messung moralischer Besorgnis gegenüber Prozessstandards am Fallbeispiel der Käfighaltung von Legehennen - Skalenentwicklung und -validierung," 57th Annual Conference, Weihenstephan, Germany, September 13-15, 2017 261992, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    21. Heng, Yan & Peterson, Hikaru Hanawa & Li, Xianghong, 2016. "Consumer Responses to Multiple and Superfluous Labels in the Case of Eggs," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 47(2), pages 1-21, July.
    22. Maria Papageorgiou & Michael Goliomytis & Ouranios Tzamaloukas & Despoina Miltiadou & Panagiotis Simitzis, 2023. "Positive Welfare Indicators and Their Association with Sustainable Management Systems in Poultry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-27, July.
    23. Inken, Christoph-Schulz & Rovers, Anja, 2018. "Die Gesellschaftliche Relevanz Unterschiedlicher Haltungsparameter In Der Deutschen Nutztierhaltung," 58th Annual Conference, Kiel, Germany, September 12-14, 2018 275862, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    24. Martina Schäfer, 2019. "Establishing ethical organic poultry production: a question of successful cooperation management?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(2), pages 315-327, June.
    25. Tomislav Vukina & Danijel Nestic, 2020. "Paying for animal welfare? A hedonic analysis of egg prices," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(4), pages 613-630, October.

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