Do Canadians Care About Dairy Animal Welfare? Exploring Consumer Perceptions and Preferences
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Do Canadians Care About Dairy Animal Welfare? Exploring Consumer Perceptions and Preferences by Michael Van Den Bossche A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Department of Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics University of Manitoba Winnipeg Copyright © 2014 by Michael Van Den Bossche Abstract Currently, research pertaining to consumer perceptions and preferences towards animal welfare on dairy operations is lacking in Canada. Though consumers have become increasingly aware of and opinionated towards animal welfare issues in other animal industries, the dairy industry remains largely ignored. This research attempted to discover how Canadians felt about animal welfare in the Canadian dairy industry. The research reported in this thesis employed a one page, double-sided mail survey, which included a cheap talk script, in order to discover the opinions and preferences of Canadians. Respondents answered questions about the importance of animal welfare and its relative importance in comparison to low milk prices, the current state of dairy animal welfare in Canada and how it compared to the United States and other livestock sectors, the practices that consumers believed to be most important for proper dairy animal welfare, as well as the amount they were willing to pay for certified animal welfare friendly milk. These questions used five point Likert scales, a pair wise comparison method and a two stage willingness to pay (WTP) question. A summary of the responses was provided and an ordered logistic regression was used to determine how different demographic characteristics affected consumer responses. The results suggested that Canadian consumers believed animal welfare was important and that the Canadian dairy industry had average to good animal welfare practices. They also believed that outdoor access, as well as banning the use of growth hormones, were important. Finally, a majority indicated a willingness to purchase animal welfare friendly milk though less so when a premium had to be paid for this product. i Acknowledgments First, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to my thesis advisor, Dr. Jared Carlberg, for providing his time and effort in helping to complete this project. Without his experience and knowledge, this survey would not have been possible. Specifically, thank you for helping to significantly improve my writing skills and for motivating me to make this the best research possible. I would also like to thank my thesis committee members, Dr. Bailey Norwood and Dr. John Cranfield, for their time and willingness to be a part of this project. Your extensive experiences in academic research and excellent ideas were particularly helpful in creating an effective survey that fit the length and focus of this project. Additionally, I would like to offer thanks to the Consumer and Market Demand research network for providing research funding for this project. This funding not only acted as a scholarship for myself, but also covered all of the survey supplies and allowed us to reach the number of survey participants that we did. Finally, I wish to acknowledge the support and patience of my family in allowing me to pursue my Master’s degree. I would also like to thank them for their hard work in helping to put together all of the survey materials, which allowed for the survey to be sent out in the fastest possible manner. ii Table of Contents Abstract..............................................................................................................................................i Acknowledgements...........................................................................................................................ii List of Tables ...................................................................................................................................vi List of Figures............................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1: Introduction.....................................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Literature Review............................................................................................................4 2.1 Review of Relevant Research Pertaining to Farm Animal Welfare.......................................4 2.2 Review of Animal Welfare Literature Using a Pair Wise Comparison Method....................8 2.3 Review of Research on Dairy Animal Welfare....................................................................10 2.4 Review of Techniques to Eliminate Survey Biases..............................................................13 Chapter 3: Survey Choice and Data Collection..............................................................................20 3.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................20 3.2 Data Collection.....................................................................................................................20 3.2.1 Survey Choice...........................................................................................................21 3.2.2 Mailing List ..............................................................................................................23 3.2.3 Survey Instrument.....................................................................................................24 3.2.3.1 Animal Welfare Statements......................................................................25 3.2.3.2 Importance of Dairy Farming Practices in Terms of Animal Welfare.....29 3.2.3.3 Demographic Questions ...........................................................................32 3.2.3.4 Agriculture and Animal Welfare Familiarity and Consumption Habits ..33 3.2.3.5 Eliciting Willingness to Pay Valuations...................................................34 3.2.4 Information Sheet .....................................................................................................36 3.2.5 Pre-testing.................................................................................................................37 3.2.6 Creation and Mailing Out of Surveys.......................................................................38 Chapter 4: Economic Theory and Empirical Models .....................................................................41 4.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................41 4.2 Theoretical Approach to Valuing Product Characteristics...................................................41 4.3 The Value of an Animal Welfare Characteristic..................................................................44 4.4 Hedonic Models ...................................................................................................................46 4.5 Methods for the Examination of the Data ............................................................................47 4.5.1 Empirical Models .....................................................................................................47 4.5.1.1 The Ordered Logit Model.........................................................................47 4.5.1.2 The Conditional Logit Model...................................................................52 4.5.1.3 Willingness to Pay Logit Models .............................................................54 4.5.2 Misspecification Testing...........................................................................................57 4.6 Data Summary......................................................................................................................58 4.6.1 Survey Response Rate ..............................................................................................58 4.6.2 Survey Demographics...............................................................................................59 4.6.2.1 Gender Breakdown...................................................................................59 4.6.2.2 Annual Household Income .......................................................................61 4.6.2.3 Area Population Levels ............................................................................62 4.6.2.4 Birth Year and Participant Age ................................................................62 iii 4.6.2.5 Education Level........................................................................................65 4.6.2.6 Provincial Breakdown ..............................................................................66 4.6.3 Additional Participant Characteristics......................................................................69 4.6.4 Results of the Link Tests ..........................................................................................71 Chapter 5: Results...........................................................................................................................73 5.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................73 5.2 Animal Welfare Statements..................................................................................................73 5.2.1 The Importance of Animal Welfare..........................................................................75