The Arctic as a food producing region: Consumer perceptions and market segments

Abstract

The Canadian Arctic is a unique food producing region. Much of the food produced in the Canadian Arctic has a strong tie with Indigenous cultures and communities, is produced or harvested in a pristine environment, and features species not commonly consumed in other parts of Canada. Building upon previous work and using data from a survey of Canadian consumers featuring a discrete choice experiment positioned around a seafood purchasing decision (Arctic Char), we use a latent class model to examine heterogeneity in consumer responses to Arctic food. We identify three groups (classes) of consumers who differ in the relative importance placed on geographic origin, Indigenous origin, wild harvested (vs. farmed), and certification for sustainability and authenticity. A class membership model explores the sociodemographic and psychographic characteristics differentiating consumers across these three groups, including food neophobia and consumers' prior perceptions of the Arctic as a food producing region with respect to quality expectations, environmental and social impacts, Indigenous cultural origins, health, moral and price concerns. Our analysis sheds light onto Indigenous cultural origin as a novel type of credence attribute. We discuss implications for the Arctic food sector and for regional certification initiatives.

Study on the Influencing Factors and Willingness to Pay of Consumers Purchasing Ecological Agricultural Products

“…Zhang et al proposed practical solutions to reduce the cost of agricultural products by analyzing the factors that significantly affect the willingness to purchase and payment levels of low-carbon vegetables [35]. Some typological or consumer segmentation studies [36,37] and consumer behavior models are also common [33,[38][39][40][41][42]. Ma et al conducted an empirical study on residents' willingness to purchase low-carbon vegetables using a conditional value assessment approach.…”

Renewable Economies in the Arctic

“…There are significant opportunities for developing high-value niche "Arctic products" for tourist markets and other selected regional and national markets. Consumer preference studies conducted in Norway (this volume) and Canada (Yang et al, 2020) indicate that consumers feel the consumption of Arctic foods allow them to experience Indigenous cultures and tradition, while supporting Indigenous communities economically. Compared to other places of origin, Canadian and Norwegian consumers place higher value on the features of Arctic origin, and would choose to purchase wild-caught fish by remote/Indigenous producers over other southern-based alternatives.…”

Would consumers help achieve sustainable development in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau with a forage–livestock balance certification label?

“…The effectiveness of eco-labels has been documented in various contexts, such as the conservation of forest resource (Aguilar and Vlosky, 2007), fishery resources (Brécard et al ., 2009; Roheim et al ., 2011), cultivated land (Duke et al ., 2021; Wang et al ., 2022), Arctic region (Yang et al. , 2020a, b) and apple production (Jiang et al. , 2023).…”