Consumer Attitudes towards farm animal welfare in South America
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Key finding:
Consumer attitudes are influenced by ethnicity, agri-food culture, ethics, purchasing power and beliefs. This study aimed to identify segments of South American consumers of animal products according to their attitudes towards Farm Animal Welfare (FAW). An online survey was distributed in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia and 2852 people completed the survey overall. Factor analysis followed by hierarchical cluster analysis enabled the researchers to split the participants into segments according to their attitudes towards FAW. There were 1323 people in the first group, who were classified as those consumers ethically committed to FAW, there were 215 people in the second group which is those committed to farmers and interested in labels. The third group was made up of 993 people who were interested in FAW and farmers and their efforts towards FAW and the fourth contained 321 people who were apathetic consumers (i.e. showed no concern for this area). They concluded that although FAW is a relatively new commercial phenomenon in South America, concern for animals may be a universal human value, which can overcome traditional dichotomies between rich and poor countries. The work is summarised in the diagram below which the authors have put together to disseminate their findings.
Links to Open Access Publications or DOI:
Citation:
Laura X. Estévez-Moreno, Genaro C. Miranda-de la Lama, Giuliana G. Miguel-Pacheco. 2022. Consumer attitudes towards farm animal welfare in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia: A segmentation-based study. Meat Science, Volume 187, 108747.
