Bigerna, S.; Marchini, A.; Micheli, S.; Polinori, P. Pre- and during COVID-19: Households’ Willingness to Pay for Local Organic Food in Italy. Sustainability2023, 15, 10247.
Bigerna, S.; Marchini, A.; Micheli, S.; Polinori, P. Pre- and during COVID-19: Households’ Willingness to Pay for Local Organic Food in Italy. Sustainability 2023, 15, 10247.
Bigerna, S.; Marchini, A.; Micheli, S.; Polinori, P. Pre- and during COVID-19: Households’ Willingness to Pay for Local Organic Food in Italy. Sustainability2023, 15, 10247.
Bigerna, S.; Marchini, A.; Micheli, S.; Polinori, P. Pre- and during COVID-19: Households’ Willingness to Pay for Local Organic Food in Italy. Sustainability 2023, 15, 10247.
Abstract
Food demand and food supply have been heavily affected by Covid-19 pandemic. To understand changes in households’ behavior related to the pandemic, we investigate the willingness to pay for local organic apples pre- and during Covid-19. Besides, we assess whether the changes occurred within the family, estimating also separate models for the two members of the couple. Our findings show that respondents show a positive price premium for local organic apples whose consumption helps reducing the environmental costs associated with food production. The median estimated values during the pandemic range from 34% to 250%. Overall, respondents show a positive mean willingness to pay which increase with the pandemic. The socio-economic variables are the most important in explaining the willingness to pay, while the behavioral variables have more heterogeneous results even if the lifestyle and the request for information through the label are important variables. The pandemic tends to narrow the gaps in preferences between members of the couple. In conclusion, the local and organic dimension is embodied in the short chain in which knowledge and trust in the producer are crucial elements in the consumer's choices.
Keywords
Covid-19; Local and organic food; Households’ decisions; Contingent valuation; Willingness to pay
Subject
Business, Economics and Management, Economics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
