Dr. Rebecca Boehm, University of Connecticut
Seminar Title: "Can You Taste the Climate Changing? U.S. Tea Consumers Willing to Pay Premium for Climate-Friendly Agricultural Practices and Climate-Sensitive Quality Attributes"
Abstract:
Climate change is a global threat to agricultural growing conditions and the quality attributes of food and beverage ingredients. The quality of Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze (Theaceae), the plant from which commercial tea is derived, is particularly sensitive to changes in weather dynamics outside normal historical bounds. This paper investigates consumer responses to climate-driven changes in tea quality and interest in climate-responsive agriculture and other production attributes among U.S. tea consumers. A hedonic sensory evaluation and choice experiment were combined to elicit consumer ratings and willingness to pay for tea harvested under differential climatic conditions (e.g., spring and monsoon seasons), greenhouse gas mitigation in tea production, and other environmental and ethical attributes. We also identify segments of tea consumers based on preferences for environmental and ethical attributes including climate change mitigation in tea production. Results reveal that U.S. consumers in the sample readily detected climate-driven changes in brewed green tea quality when comparing spring and monsoon harvested tea. On average, consumers in our study rated the spring harvested tea than the monsoon tea in both a blind and labeled condition. Relative to other tea attributes presented in the choice experiment, study participants were willing to pay a significantly higher price premium to support climate-friendly production techniques. We also identified five distinct segments of tea consumers, each of whom had distinct interests related to environmental, nutrition/health and ethical attributes. All but one segment identified exhibited low sensitivity to price for credence attributes. Our findings indicate a potential for marketing low carbon foods to U.S. consumers. Further investigation of consumer responses to climate-driven changes in food quality are needed given projected impacts of climate change on food production in the coming decades.
Friday, October 06, 2017
11:30am - 12:45pm
W.B. Young Building, room 132
View the full Fall 2017 ARE Seminar Schedule
For more information, contact: Tatiana Andreyeva at tatiana.andreyeva@uconn.edu