Sensometrics & Consumer Science, Instituto Polo Tecnológico de Pando, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República. By Pass de Rutas 8 y 101 s/n, CP 91000 Pando, Canelones, Uruguay.
The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, 120 Mt Albert Road, Private Bag 92169, Victoria Street West, Auckland, New Zealand.
Food Res Int. 2021 Dec;150(Pt B):110811. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2021.110811. Epub 2021 Nov 16.
Major changes are needed both with regard to what we eat and how food is produced. The latter is the focus of the present research, specifically the rise of controlled environment agriculture. In this context, empirical research is presented on consumer attitudes to vertical farming (VF) (i.e., indoor plant factory with artificial lighting), conducted in four countries (USA, UK, Singapore, and China) using online surveys (637-683 participants per country with matched gender and age group distributions). A multi-method research approach was used, including a novel methodology of text highlighting, which requires that participants read a descriptive text about VF with mentions of pros and cons and use highlighter functions to select aspects of the text that they 'like' and 'dislike'. Based on the information provided in the text, attitudes towards VF were largely positive in the four countries. The characteristics of VF that aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals were identified as key drivers of positive attitudes (i.e., higher yield, reduction of carbon emissions, and securing access to food). On the other hand, high energy use and premium prices contributed to negative attitudes about VF. Although the majority of participants responded to the text with an overall positive attitude towards VF, there were smaller groups of participants in every country who expressed a negative or neutral/ambivalent attitude. These between-segment differences were larger than cross-cultural differences, although the latter did exist, particularly for selected aspects of VF. For example, Chinese participants tended to be the least negative about the use of robots to help planting and harvesting. Future research is needed to understand consumer responses to aspects VF not covered in the text (e.g., powering VF with renewable energy, product range), and consumer insights about VF should be sought in other countries.
需要在我们的饮食和食物生产方式上做出重大改变。本研究聚焦于后者，特别是受控环境农业的兴起。在这种背景下，本文展示了对垂直农业（VF）（即采用人工照明的室内植物工厂）的消费者态度的实证研究，该研究在四个国家（美国、英国、新加坡和中国）进行，采用在线调查（每个国家有 637-683 名参与者，性别和年龄组分布相匹配）。采用了多方法研究方法，包括一种新的文本突出显示方法，要求参与者阅读一段关于 VF 的描述性文本，其中提到了优缺点，并使用突出显示功能选择他们“喜欢”和“不喜欢”的文本方面。根据文本中提供的信息，四个国家的消费者对 VF 的态度基本上是积极的。与联合国可持续发展目标一致的 VF 特征被确定为积极态度的关键驱动因素（即更高的产量、减少碳排放和确保获得食物）。另一方面，高能耗和高价格导致了对 VF 的负面态度。尽管大多数参与者对 VF 的文本整体持积极态度，但每个国家都有一小部分参与者表达了消极或中立/矛盾的态度。这些分段差异大于跨文化差异，尽管后者确实存在，特别是对于 VF 的某些方面。例如，中国参与者对使用机器人帮助种植和收获的态度最不消极。未来需要研究消费者对 VF 未涵盖的方面（例如，用可再生能源为 VF 供电、产品范围）的反应，还应该在其他国家寻求对 VF 的消费者洞察。
