Between farms and forks

Food industry perspectives on the future of EU food labelling

verfasst von

Christoph Schulze, Bettina Matzdorf, Jens Rommel, Mikołaj Czajkowski, Marina García-Llorente, Inés Gutiérrez-Briceño, Lina Larsson, Katarzyna Zagórska, Wojciech Zawadzki

Abstract

This study assesses how information about the provision of ecosystem services can contribute to an integrative food labelling framework within the European Unions' Farm to Fork Strategy. By applying Q-methodology with 43 food industry experts from four European member states – Germany, Poland, Spain, and Sweden –, we identify common viewpoints among food processors, retailers and labelling organisations. We find a consensus in support of introducing new food labels that would encourage farmers to deliver more ecosystem services, such as increased farm biodiversity. Applying factor analysis and using the qualitative information from the interviews, we derive three distinct prototypes of a future European food label: 1) a producer-driven ecosystem services label, 2) a consumer-oriented information label, and 3) a new EU sustainable food label. These label prototypes are partly country-specific and invoked by multiple stakeholder groups. We conclude that a future European Union food labelling framework must account for all three label prototypes. Policymakers are advised to embrace the diversity of viewpoints of food system actors, as they are the main drivers of the success and failure of labels.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Fakultät für Architektur und Landschaft

Externe Organisation(en)

Leibniz-Zentrum für Agrarlandschaftsforschung (ZALF) e.V.
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Uniwersytet Warszawski
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM)
KRAV ekonomisk förening

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Ecological economics

Band

217

Anzahl der Seiten

12

ISSN

0921-8009

Publikationsdatum

03.2024

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Umweltwissenschaften (insg.), Volkswirtschaftslehre und Ökonometrie

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.108066 (Zugang: Geschlossen)