As income is rising and urbanization progressing, the consumption of meat and dairy products is increasing, especially in developing countries. However, increasing livestock production leads to challenges that need to be addressed, such as yielding environmental pollution and causing climate change. Due to these circumstances, the importance of sustainable livestock farming has been highlighted in order to effectively utilize natural resources and to protect the environment. We analyzed consumers’ preference and willingness to pay for milk, one of the representative dairy products, which was produced in a sustainable way. Among the various attributes of milk, marginal willingness to pay for “performing sustainability” through mountainous farming was estimated to be the biggest. The willingness to pay was revealed to be higher for the consumer group with a high awareness of sustainable farming than the consumer group with low awareness. The empirical results in this study suggest that it is important to consider the economic feasibility of dairy farming by forming a consensus with consumers through publicity and changing the production pattern to promote sustainability.

This paper analyzes the changes in consumer preference that may occur when the current Genetically Modified (GM) crops policy is strengthened by applying mandatory labeling to all processed food that uses GM crops as raw materials. We estimate the change in consumers’ willingness to pays for cooking oil before and after providing the information on GM raw material contained in the currently marketed cooking oil to consumers. To this end, a hypothetical cooking oil product using non-GM raw materials is set up, and consumers are classified into high and low awareness groups for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and those who prefer and do not prefer organic foods. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) analyses show the amount of willingness to pay before providing the information for high and low awareness groups for GMOs increases from 23.8 dollars and 18.0 dollars per 1.8 L to 25.6 dollars and 20.3 dollars, respectively. The value of the information on GM raw materials of a consumer group with high prior knowledge of GMOs is estimated to be 1.8 dollars, and the value of the information of a consumer group with low prior knowledge is estimated to be 2.4 dollars per 1.8 L. The willingness to pay (WTP) change according to the information provision of the group with the highest prior knowledge of GMOs is estimated to be 0.6 dollars, and the WTP change is estimated to be 3.6 dollars for the group with lowest prior knowledge. This implies that the lower the prior knowledge possessed by a consumer, the higher the value of information on GM raw materials elicited.

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The importance of wooden buildings has been highlighted in recent years due to the energy-efficient and carbon storage effect of wood. This study investigates the willingness to pay for one-time tax payments of the citizens currently living in Seoul when Seoullo uses wood as a material for covering the surface of the facilities. The study examines the economic feasibility of Seoullo, which is a part of the government urban regeneration project that built a park on the desolate bridge in 2017. The result indicates that Seoul citizens who participated in the survey feel a greater preference for wood material rather than existing concrete used in Seoullo despite the tax burden. As a result, it is found that the respondents with children under the age of 8, respondents who are aware of the urban regeneration project, and respondents with respiratory disease have a lower marginal willingness to pay than those in the opposite groups. Moreover, the result shows that the respondents who consider farming or returning to rural areas, respondents in need of city improvement, respondents who chose wood as a preferred building material, and respondents with the experience of visiting Seoullo have a greater marginal willingness to pay for the wooden material than those in the opposite groups.

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