A Calibrate Auction-conjoint Experiment to Elicit Consumer Valuation of Sustainable Farming: Is Agro-systems Preservation Relevant?

This paper analyses the role of agro-systems preservation on making food choices. Itemploys the “Calibrate Auction-Conjoint Valuation method” (CACM), which relateshypothetical conjoint valuation of product attributes with real market behavior using realeconomic incentives. The paper also allows comparing the hypothetical and nonhypotheticalvaluations in order to value the difference between the theoretic and theincentive-compatible WTP for a same respondent and within a single experiment. Thusthe paper aims at testing for: 1) the internal consistency on people’s behavior towardssustainable agriculture, and 2) the relevance of the price attribute versus agro-ecosystemspreservation for a fresh product. Results suggest that Spanish respondents’ valuation ofan agricultural product highly depends on the type of system used for its production.Nevertheless, respondents mainly differ between sustainable and non sustainableproduction, and do not discriminate between organic and integrated systems. In addition,both the price and the protection of the environment are the most important elementstaken into account when purchasing. Moreover, consumers tend to overestimate theirWTP in hypothetical settings (60% of the sample). Finally, factors such as gender,respondents’ knowledge towards organic production and practices, health concerns, truston organic marketing agents and risk perception are significant on explaining differencesbetween individual’s hypothetical and non-hypothetical experiments.