Author summary In the discussion surrounding sustainable agriculture and consumption, organic production plays a key role. Especially in terms of high animal welfare standards, organic animal farming takes a pioneering role. To support market-driven transformation to a more sustainable consumption, an understanding of consumers’ attitudes, perspectives, and trust regarding these production systems is essential. Thus, this study identifies trust levels along the production chain of organic animal products and gives insights into the characteristics of different consumer groups regarding their trust in organic husbandry. Three clusters could be identified, with the first two clusters showing moderate to high trust levels along the production chain and a positive attitude towards organic husbandry. We identified scandals, poor product quality, a high expectation–reality gap and, especially for the second and third clusters, too emotional and uncritical reporting about organic husbandry as possible trust barriers. We provide recommendations for increasing trust in a particular animal welfare-friendly husbandry system based on this study.
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