Project: Farmer Consumer Partnerships
The main objective of the CORE Organic project ‘Farmer Consumer Partnerships’ is to determine how the commitment of organic farmers to ethical values additional to organic farming standards can be effectively communicated to organic customers and thus strengthen the positioning in the market. The research program consisted in the following steps: - Identification of ethical concerns and related activities going beyond the standards of organic farmers and companies - Identification of organic consumers’ preferences for different aspects of an ‘added value’ to organic farming standards - Elicit consumers’ willingness to pay for aspects of the ‘added value’, and - Conclude on the potential for product differentiation and marketing. The main outcome of our research is that the communication of additional ethical attributes of organic food offers a promising potential for product differentiation in the organic market. Critical consumers and producers agree that organic production according to the EU regulation on organic farming (EC/834/2007) can be improved with respect to ethical food production. The analysis of the supply side showed that many producers practise organic farming in ways that go far beyond the minimum requirements of the EU regulation on organic farming. The analysis of the communication activities (internet, labels flyers) of about 100 SMEs with organic producers’ involvement in our study showed that companies are engaged with a broad range of values and sustainability goals that they communicate. The most widely used arguments related to local and regional production, followed by resource use, care farming and biodiversity related communication.
| Acronym | FCP |
| Duration | 01/01/2007 - 14/06/2010 |
| Website | visit project website |
| Network | CORE Organic |
| Call | CORE-ORGANIC Pilot Call |
Project partner
| Number | Name | Role | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies - Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari | Italy | ||
| Marche Polytechnic University - Faculty of Engineering | Italy | ||
| Organic Research Centre | United Kingdom | ||
| Research Institute of Organic Agriculture | Switzerland | ||
| University of Kassel | Coordinator | Germany | |
| University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna | Austria |