Consumers’ willingness to pay for organic chicken breast: Evidence from choice experiment

This paper assesses consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for organic chicken using a choice experiment. Specifically, we examined consumers’ WTP for a general organic label and a USDA certified organic label on chicken breast. Our results indicate that consumers are willing to pay a premium of 1.193$/lb (34.8%) for the general organic label and 3.545 $/lb (103.5%) for the USDA organic label. WTP also differs between demographic groups as well as between different types of consumers based on the purchase frequency of organic meat products. The WTP premium for a general/USDA organic label was lowest for the non-buyers (−29.6% and 26.2%), followed by the occasional buyers (35.7% and 97.3%). The habitual buyers were willing to spend a premium of 146.6% for general and 244.3% for USDA certified organic labeled chicken breast. For all buyer types, USDA organic certification was valued more than the general organic label implying that consumers trust the USDA organic products more than a general organic label.

Research highlights
► We compared consumers’ WTP for organic chicken with 2 different labels using a choice experiment.
► The WTP for a general organic label and USDA organic label were 1.193 $/lb (35%) and 3.545 $/lb (104%).
► WTP differed between demographic groups.
► WTP varied between different consumers types based on the purchase frequency of organic meat.