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To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7976.2008.01140.x Byline: John Cranfield (1), B. James Deaton (2), Shreenivas Shellikeri (3) Abstract: In 21st century agriculture, standards are increasingly used to define new food products, such as organic food and fair trade. In some cases these standards are privately determined but in other cases they have been established by governments. Indeed, the Government of Canada recently announced its organic food regulations. A key dimension of the policy process involves choosing which standards are to be used to govern the production of organic food. Unfortunately, decision makers faced with these choices know very little about how the public values the various standards that could be used to define organic. This study evaluates Canadian consumers' preferences for different organic standards. Standards pertaining to pesticide-residue testing, product origin specifications, the standard setting agency, and standard monitoring agency are evaluated using a conjoint method. Key results suggest that consumers place a high value on a pesticide standard that involves regular testing of the end product and that they prefer an organic food standard to include a rule that limits where the good is produced. En agriculture en ce 21.sup.e siecle, des normes sont de plus en plus utilisees pour definir de nouveaux produits alimentaires tels que les aliments biologiques et les aliments issus du commerce equitable. Dans certains cas, ces normes sont etablies par des organismes prives, et dans d'autres cas, elles sont etablies par les gouvernements. Dernierement, le gouvernement du Canada a annonce son Reglement sur les produits biologiques. Un element cle du processus d'elaboration des politiques consiste a choisir les normes qui s'appliqueront a la production d'aliments biologiques. Malheureusement, les decideurs a qui reviennent ces choix en savent tres peu sur les valeurs que le public accorde aux diverses normes qui pourraient etre utilisees pour definir le terme 'biologique'. La presente etude evalue les preferences des consommateurs canadiens concernant les diverses normes sur les produits biologiques. Les normes sur l'analyse des residus de pesticides, les specifications sur l'origine du produit, les organismes de normalisation et les organismes de surveillance sont evaluees a l'aide d'une methode conjointe. Les resultats fondamentaux montrent que les consommateurs accordent une grande importance a une norme sur les pesticides qui exige des analyses regulieres du produit final et qu'ils preferent une norme sur les aliments biologiques qui inclut un reglement sur l'origine du produit. Author Affiliation: (1)Associate Professor, Department of Food, Agricultural & Resource Economics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1 (corresponding author: phone: 519-824-4120, ext. 53708; fax: 1-519-767-1510; e-mail:jcranfie@uoguelph.ca). (2)Assistant Professor, Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Guelph, 321 J.D. MacLachlan Bldg, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1 (phone: 519-824-4120 ext. 52765; fax: 519 767-1510; e-mail:bdeaton@uoguelph.ca). (3)Former Grad student, Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Guelph, Apt 2202, 220 Steeles Ave West, Brampton, Ontario, Canada, L6Y 2K4 (phone: 519-824-4120; fax: 519-767-1510; e-mail:shreenivas_shellikeri@yahoo.com).

Farmers' decision to adopt organic cultivation and create niche markets is analyzed within multilevel social ecological context. Social ecology provides a contextual platform conceptualizing global regional local relationships within which niche markets for food products are created

Paying extra for most organic fruits, vegetables, meat, and dairy products makes sense, but you can pass on organic seafood and cosmetics, says Consumer Reports. Fish can be labeled as [...]