Market structures of organic dairy farming and consumer attitudes towards organic milk processing

Publication date: 18/02/2025
Extent: 24 pages

Contributions by: Otto Schmid, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, Switzerland; Hanna Stolz, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, Switzerland; Karlotta Koch, University of Hohenheim, Germany; and Claudia Meier, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, Switzerland

Chapter synopsis:

Since 2021, the established retail chains remain dominant, discount retailers are gaining, and traditional organic stores are losing market share. There is growing competition with other labels, especially regional labels, animal welfare labels and hay milk (e.g. grass-fed) labels. A literature review showed that the main motives for consumers to buy organic food were health, taste, environmental protection and animal well-being. When consumers purchase milk, fat content, taste, freshness, price, shelf life, and region of origin are the six most relevant criteria. When introduced to different milk processing methods, organic consumers preferred High Pressure Processed milk (HPP) over pasteurised milk, and had the lowest preference for micro-filtrated milk. This shows that the benefits of specific processing methods, such as the preservation of a food’s natural taste and nutritional content, should be explained more clearly via targeted communication in order to better inform consumer choice.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2024.0138.14