Consumer Evaluation of Animal Welfare in Japan

Measuring the Marginal Willingness to Pay for Drinking Milk

Abstract

In recent years, animal welfare has been attracting attention worldwide, and livestock production must take this into account. However, compared to Europe and the U.S., where the concept of animal welfare is widespread, most consumers in Japan are unfamiliar with the idea of animal welfare, and producers are lagging far behind. On top of that, there is not enough research in Japan on the market evaluation of livestock products that are animal welfare-friendly. This study quantitatively analyzed consumer evaluations of GAP labeling, HACCP labeling, AW labeling, place of origin labeling, and price of milk in a choice experiment. An adapted mixed logit model was used to analyze 2,592 data points obtained from 324 consumers living in Hokkaido and Tokyo. The results showed that consumers evaluated AW labeling positively, although regional differences were observed, and that the marginal willingness to pay increased costs for animal welfare was about 19 yen in Hokkaido and about 33 yen in Tokyo.