Factors influencing the success of animal husbandry cooperatives: A case study in Southwest Iran

This survey study aimed at identifying the factors influencing the success of animal husbandry cooperatives in Southwest Iran. Using a questionnaire, the data were collected from 95 managing directors of the cooperatives who were chosen through a multi-stage stratified random sampling method. This study showed an essential need for a systemic framework to analyze the cooperatives’ success. The results showed that the “Honey Bee”, “Cattle (dairy)”, and “Lamb” cooperatives were the most successful among different kinds of the cooperatives. Also, among individual attributes, “interest”, “technical knowledge”, and “understanding the concept of cooperative”; among economic variables, “income” and “current investment”; and among external factors, “market access” have significant correlation with the success while structural variables have no significant relation. Furthermore, among all the factors, four variables (“interest”, “understanding the concept of cooperative”, “market access”, and “other incomes”) can explain the variations of the success.

Labelling schemes for organic food: Consumer attitudes, preferences and willingness-to-pay in six European countries

Since July 2010, all pre-packed organic food produced in the European Union (EU) must carry the new mandatory EU logo for organic food. Voluntary organic labels (such as national governmental logos and logos of private farmers’ associations and control bodies) can still be used, but only in addition to the mandatory EU logo. This change in the regulatory environment of organic labelling raises a number of questions regarding consumer preferences for different kinds of organic certification logos, which the present dissertation addressed. The first objective was to explore and analyse consumer perceptions, attitudes, preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP) regarding different voluntary organic labels. The second objective was to investigate consumer perceptions and attitudes towards a mandatory EU logo. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods of consumer research in six European countries was employed including focus group discussions, choice experiments and structured interviews. Based on the empirical results, recommendations are drawn for different actors in the organic sector.