RESEARCH ON ATTITUDE AND THE BEHAVIOR OF THE ROMANIAN YOUNG GENERATION IN RELATION TO THE PURCHASE AND CONSUMPTION OF ORGANIC PRODUCTS.

The paper aimed to study the purchase habits and behavior of the young generation regarding consumption of organic products. For this purpose, literature in the field was studied regarding the EU organic production and consumption. In order to determine the young Romanian consumers' perception concerning the organic products, a field survey based on a questionnaire was run during March -June 2021 on a sample consisting of 191 students from Sibiu and Brăila. Organic agriculture is a dynamic system in Romania, registering in the last 10 years an ascending trend, from 182,706 ha in 2010 to 468,887.05 ha in 2020. The organic products are consumed by the 90.6 % of the young people investigated (173 persons). They purchased organic products mainly form local markets (81.15%), super (80 %) or hypemarket (70.1%). Also, an amount of 66 % respondents use to buy organic products from specialised stories. The young generation believes that the most effective way to promote the consumption of organic products are: events organised in hyper or supermarket, specialised fairs for organic products, events like "open doors" at ecological operators. The students who were part of the target group of this study are in the category of well-informed consumers. They know how to recognize organic products by the existing marks on the packaging (69.6%). Young people say the main qualities of organic products are: healthy (93.2%), tasty (71.2%), contain fewer chemicals (61.8%), improve quality of life (51.3%), do not contain synthetic additives (48.7%). At the same time, organic products protect the environment (45%), support family farming (40.3%) and the local economy (40.3 %). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]