Fostering sustainable consumption through communication: Consumers’ appreciation of biodiversity-friendly pasture-based cattle husbandry

Considering dramatic environmental changes, there is an evident necessity of a transition to more sustainable animal production that caters to societal demand for ethical production and consumption. The slow but steady shift in consumer demand for animal-friendly, environmentally, and socially re-sponsible animal products has been well documented over the past years. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to provide insights regarding consumer perceptions, acceptance, preferences and com-munication of biodiversity-friendly pasture-based cattle husbandry and products derived from it. The main objectives of the dissertation concern the consumer communication potential of a biodiversity-friendly cattle grazing system based on virtual fencing and the potential of communicating biodiversity conservation as a valuable aspect of pasture-based production. The objectives of the dissertation were approached with three consecutive studies. A systematic review of scientific literature examined the state-of-the-art consumer research on pasture-raised livestock products and identified research gaps in the existing literature on consumers’ attitudes and preferences regarding pasture-raised products. The empirical data for this dissertation were collected using qualitative methods of consumer research dur-ing two studies that took place in Germany. First, twenty verbal protocols elucidated German consum-ers’ opinions on innovative cattle grazing practice. Second, six online focus groups with a total of forty participants allowed an insight into consumers’ perception of a labeling scheme for biodiversity-friendly cattle products. The dissertation emphasizes the importance of communicating relevant attrib-utes in a way easily understandable to consumers as precondition for more sustainable consumption. Regarding the main goal of this dissertation, the findings suggest that, (i) consumers value pasture-based production but have little knowledge about animal husbandry and biodiversity, which makes biodiversity a challenging topic for communication; (ii) the application of innovative grazing technol-ogies in cattle farming is a too complex and controversial topic to be successfully used in consumer communication on pasture-based production; (iii) a multi-level labeling scheme for biodiversity con-servation in grazing-based systems is perceived as too complex and excessive; a binary grazing label provides sufficient information to consumers; and (iv) efforts to facilitate more direct communications between consumers and farmers might be an effective alternative to the introduction of a new label. This alternative may yield additional opportunities to reestablish consumers’ connection to animal food production, engage citizens more actively in the environmental consequences of their behavior, and therewith foster sustainable choices. On the basis of these findings, the implications for stakeholders are discussed. This work contributes to building a basis for the development of effective communica-tion strategies and will be of interest for the farmers and marketers of pasture-raised products alike.