Consumer Information Drives Willingness to Pay for Low Emissions Milk and Beef

Abstract

An emerging innovation in the sustainable food space is low methane emissions in beef and dairy products. A leader in this space is Symbrosia, ¹ an innovative aquaculture company based in Hawai’i. They produce SeaGraze™, a feed additive derived from the red algae Asparagopsis taxformis, which is designed for ruminant ² livestock producers to reduce the methane emissions of their livestock by more than 80%. However, the feed additive SeaGraze™ represents an additional cost for livestock producers, and the consumer demand for low methane emissions beef and dairy products is relatively unknown. This study explores consumer demand and the willingness to pay for low emissions beef and dairy products. It reports on a survey of 495 participants, which found product-informed consumers are willing to pay between 51.7% and 72.3% more for low emissions milk and between 0.6% and 8.6% more for low emissions beef. A regression analysis found the most notable driver of consumer preference and willingness to pay more for these products was product information. This suggests that effective advertising of low methane emissions products is necessary for their financial success. These results should encourage producers in other countries to expand the production and consumption of these kinds of products to curb methane emissions.