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European Review of Agricultural Economics 2005 32(3):347-368; doi:10.1093/eurrag/jbi017
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Right arrow D12 - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
Right arrow D18 - Consumer Protection
Right arrow L66 - Food; Beverages; Cosmetics; Tobacco; Wine and Spirits
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© Oxford University Press and Foundation for the European Review of Agricultural Economics 2005; all rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions{at}oupjournals.org

Agriculture and the food industry in the information age

Wim Verbeke

Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Corespponding author: Wim Verbeke, Coupure links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium. Email: wim.verbeke{at}ugent.be

Summary

Food consumers face uncertainty and demand high quality and safe food products, apparently with as much information as possible. Today's agriculture and food industry aims at reducing market failures from information asymmetry. Such information provision can be successful only if it meets the information needs of the target audience. This paper focuses first on individual characteristics that shape information needs, and then discusses information provision through mass media and labelling. It emerges that consumer needs for information cannot be taken for granted. The provision of ever more and too detailed information entails a risk of information overload, resulting in consumer indifference or loss of confidence. Instead, segmentation and targeted information provision are proposed as potential solutions to market failure from information asymmetry.

Keywords: information, consumer, uncertainty, involvement, labelling, traceability, D12, M39, Q13


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