Aquaponic-grown produce offers several environmental benefits compared with other production methods, including the remediation of aquaculture waste streams and the reduction of water, fertilizer, and energy inputs. However, for the environmental benefits of aquaponics to be fully realized, consumers must be willing to consume and pay for aquaponic products. Although environmental benefits are the main advantage of aquaponic produce, highlighting sustainability benefits alone has a minimal impact on consumer willingness to pay. The failure of environmental messaging to improve aquaponic produce acceptance may be due to the higher priority consumers place on attributes such as taste, health, and price or concerns regarding aquaponic cleanliness and safety. Therefore, highlighting other benefits of aquaponics – such as the absence of pesticides and herbicides due to the nature of raising multiple species in a water-circulating system – may be a worthwhile strategy to improve consumer acceptance.
A taste test was conducted with participants (n = 204) randomly assigned to one of the four conditions of a 2 (message type: eco-friendly vs. clean and safe) × 2 (product type: aquaponic-grown vs. soil-grown) experimental design. The subjects first read a brief product description. The information about the aquaponic-grown sample was framed as either eco-friendly or clean and safe. The information for the soil-grown sample was consistent across conditions. After reading the information, participants tasted both aquaponic-grown and soil-grown tomatoes one at a time in a counter-balanced order. After evaluating each sample, participants responded to two 9-point items (1 = dislike extremely; 9 = like extremely) measuring tastiness, a 7-point item measuring purchase intention (1 = very low likelihood; 7 = very high likelihood) and indicated their willingness-to-pay in dollars. Participants also answered questions to assess their concern for health and concern for the environment.
Our preliminary results show that aquaponic-grown tomatoes were liked as much as soil-grown tomatoes in both conditions. However, the purchase intention of aquaponic-grown tomatoes was lower than that of soil-grown tomatoes in the “clean and safe” condition but not in the “eco-friendly” condition. Participants’ concerns for health and the environment moderate the effect of the messages, as participants with high health concern and low environmental concern had significantly higher willingness-to-pay in the “clean and safe” condition than in the “eco-friendly” condition. These findings demonstrate that consumer acceptance of aquaponic produce may be increased by tailoring aquaponic produce messaging to distinct health- and environment-concern consumer segments.