MILWAUKEE – For nearly 50 years, Canadian consumers have had limited access to imported dairy products. Recent increases in tariff rate quotas means that consumers access to these products could expand. While Canada now has domestic and international options on the shelves, labeling has become a crucial factor in consumer preference.
In a new podcast released in the Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, Peter Slade from the University of Saskatchewan and an author of “Foreign Geographical Indications, Consumer Preferences, and the Domestic Market for Cheese,” as well as Amanda Norris from the University of Guelph and an author of “Consumer Preferences for Country-of-Origin Labeling in Protective Markets: Evidence from the Canadian Dairy Market” dive deeper into how consumers respond to geographical indicators.
Norris says, “we found a premium may exist for domestically-produced processed dairy products. And although country-of-origin was important to respondents in our study, there is also strong interest expressed for traceability programs and, to a lesser extent, organic production.”
Slade states that, “some terms like “imitation” significantly reduced consumers’ valuation of Canadian cheese. So consumers just didn’t like to see cheese that was labeled as “imitation feta,” but other types of modifiers like -type or -style really had a small and statistically insignificant effect.”
If you are interested in listening to the podcast visit: https://players.brightcove.net/1611106596001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6085298874001
To speak with either of the authors featured in the podcast, please contact Allison Scheetz in the AAEA Business Office.
ABOUT AAEA:
Established in 1910, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) is the leading professional association for agricultural and applied economists, with 2,500 members in more than 60 countries. Members of the AAEA work in academic or government institutions as well as in industry and not-for-profit organizations, and engage in a variety of research, teaching, and outreach activities in the areas of agriculture, the environment, food, health, and international development. The AAEA publishes two journals, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, as well as the online magazine Choices and the online open access publication series Applied Economics Teaching Resources. To learn more, visit http://www.aaea.org.
